A Father Figure
by TheConcernedF0X
Summary: An AU story. Pregnant at 16 and no father to speak of Vivian Wilde is forced to raise her son Nicholas alone. Until one day a fox by the name of Jack Hunter finds little Nicholas outside crying by a dumpster wearing a familiar uniform. Crime, drama, romance, suspense, the list goes on. Follow this happier AUs journey as Nick gets the father he never had. Rated M for violence/fluff
1. Prologue Part 1

**Here we go my first story aptly titled A Father Figure. This is an AU, pregnant at 16 and no father to speak of Vivian Wilde is forced to raise her son Nicholas alone...until one day a fox by the name of Jack Hunter finds little Nicholas crying outside by a dumpster.**

 **This is supposed to be a happier AU where Nick gets a father and his life turns out much better. But don't be mistaken, we're going dark places with this story with pretty much all of it revolving around Jack.**

 **This is just the prologue but it is HUGE and has two parts just to give you readers a complete picture of Jack and a summary of everything he went through before he meets little Nicholas. If you don't want to read this lengthy prologue and just be confused about Jack that's fine just skip to chapter one then. But I really don't recommend it.**

 **P.s. No Judy will not be in this story but she will appear in the sequel. Also I'm a total WildeHopps shipper so no need to worry about that bit that will happen in every single story I have at some point.**

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Prologue Part One: Introducing Jack

To say that Jack Hunter had it rough would be a gross understatement. Sure he lived in Zootopia where 'anyone could be anything!' But there was one problem, he was born a Vulpes Vulpes, I.e a Red Fox. Just thinking about the 'great city's' slogan caused Jack to snort audibly and mutter to himself 'anything my furry red ass.' Snorting again and giving himself a full body shake he began to observe himself in a full body mirror.

His coloring was typical of that of a Red Fox, russet fur with cream fur starting on the underside of his muzzle and continuing down his chest and stomach. He also had black tipped ears, *he flicked one for emphasis,* and his paws were also black, but what was more of a rare sight was that his tail was also tipped black, *shifting his tail in front of him he swished it a few times for his own amusement.* He was quite tall for a Fox, in fact, he was only half a head short of the average size of a Wolf giving him quite the profile. Broad shoulders and a straight posture also added to his profile, of course this impressive profile for a Fox also meant that he received twice as much scorn, disdain, and distrust than your average Fox simply because he emanated the 'Big Bad Fox' stereotype. Now for Foxes the first they would be drawn to was his eyes, and for any other mammal, it was his paws 'to make sure they weren't in the mammals pockets stealing their valuables.' *At that thought Jack chuckled lightly and shook his head.* No for Foxes, and some other mammals he hoped, the first thing they are drawn to is his eyes. Because his eyes were a deep, brilliant, sea foam green. Green was a rare eye color in general and even rarer in Foxes, but, seafoam green was the rarest green possible. In fact, Jack was the only living fox recorded to have this particular shade of green; sure it ran in the Hunter family, but being the only one left meant no other living fox possessed his eye color.

That was another reason he had rough, tough, hell, any bad word you could think of to describe his life would be a fit. But he personally favored 'a living hell' as the way to describe his life. His mom and dad were murdered when he was four and their house set on fire to cover it up, the reason they were killed could be summed up in one word, Foxes. Of course he was supposed to be dead and ash too, for the mammals who did it also stabbed him in the neck hoping he would bleed out, *remembering that night Jack shuddered and rubbed the scar on the left side of his neck like he did whenever he was very nervous* but Jack was a stubborn fox even at four years old and just refused to die like that; and even though he didn't know it at the time, it helped that the ram that stabbed him managed to miss his jugular and carotid artery.

Jack waited until the intruders were gone and house set ablaze before he made his way to his parents who were just barely alive and they got their goodbyes to each other out before saying, "if you want to get out alive, go, run for your life." Jack just barely managed to make it out before the house collapsed and the fire department, EMTs, and police officers arrived.

Before Jack even let the EMTs touch him he walked straight up to the nearest officer and told them what had happened inside that house, but of course the Rhino officer did not care nor believe him simply because he was a Fox. Worst part of that interaction was that that particular officer was the current chief of Precinct One back then, Henry Ironsides. *Jack began to growl just thinking about that bastard Ironsides before continuing his train of thought* Although he wasn't aware of that fact until later, a female Cheetah EMT finally managed to grab Jack and load him into the ambulance and began tending to him as the ambulance sped off to the nearest hospital *thinking back Jack realized that Cheetah was the only mammal that day that treated him like a regular mammal and not some toxic thing, recalling her name because he had asked, Tammie Spotters, he vowed to look her up and hopefully thank her.* At the hospital after being stitched up and further tended to they informed him of the obvious that he had no living kin, for he was already told that both sets of grandparents had died in separate car accidents before he was born.

That has meant only one thing, orphanages, because no foster home would ever take him because of one thing, Fox. He also knew he would never be adopted because again, Fox. Resigned to his fate at four years old he was sent to a orphanage named Honorhall, and what a hell hole for him, because Honorhall was a prey only orphanage. Even at four he knew he was placed there on purpose and would later find out that it was Ironsides doing. But at four what could he do? The caretaker of the orphanage was a cruel women who beat him and even openly encouraged the other children to as well, though it's not like they needed much convincing of encouragement. He was bullied, beaten, and practically tortured for two years before he finally decided to leave on his sixth birthday.

But what made him leave wasn't something that was done to him, though all those things didn't make his decision harder, no what made him leave was the outright murder of a new addition to the orphanage, a male rabbit named James Sparrowtail. James was seven and openly defended Jack and even protected him from a beating he was receiving from the head mistress because she was simply bored. He had tried to tell James not to intervene but he never listened and shielded Jack, and even though Jack was 5 he was still bigger and stronger than James therefore he could take the beatings. James on the other paw could not, and was beaten to death dying of massive blunt force trauma to the head (the headmistress was a Zebra) after being forced to bury James' body he decided it was time to leave. But he swore revenge on her, justice for him, vengeance for his parents, and justice for James Sparrowtail.

It helped that Jack was a special Fox. Because he had hyperthymesia, though he didn't know what his condition was called until he was seven, a very very rare condition that in simple terms, allowed him to remember everything; and everything wasn't an overstatement. The only downside to having hyperthymesia is that he couldn't forget anything either, and gods he wished he could forget somethings. He also had incredibly heightened senses, not anywhere near supernatural, but heightened nonetheless. Hearing on par with rabbits, a nose that could make some wolves jealous, and eyesight like a hawk; Jack speculated that he got his heightened senses as a byproduct of hyperthymesia. Then with heightened senses came enhanced reflexes, enhanced reflexes led to increased agility, add all of it together plus the fact that at six years old he was the average size of a 12 year old fox added up to the simple fact, he could turn himself into a deadly weapon. So that's what he decided he would do, at six years old he decided he would make himself into a weapon, a weapon to be used to get revenge, to get vengeance.

Since he looked like a twelve year old fox it was easy to get around without being stopped because he was young, so he made his way back to the place he was born, Happytown. *Thinking about that horrid place he shook his head and muttered, "the irony is not lost on me." After muttering this he returned to his musings.* Happytown, which lets face it, was a bullshit name used to help pitch that it was some great and happy place for predators to live so they didn't taint the city anymore that they already had. Made by the at the time all prey city council, they advertised it as a haven for predators with great prices, and it didn't dawn on the predators until it was to late that the prices were low for a reason. *shaking himself fully again he said aloud "now now Jack, this is a self reflection, now's not the time for the Happytown conspiracy. You can return to that later."* Anyways he returned to Happytown, and his first stop was the library. It was meagerly stacked and like everything in Happytown run down, perusing through the library he grabbed the books he would need (every single one of them about fighting and combat) and promptly walked out with them. It wasn't like they would be missed, hell there wasn't a single other mammal in that whole place. Walking for several blocks he thought about places he could stay and be relatively safe before it dawned on him, he promptly turned around and headed straight back to the library. Slapping the books he took on the front desk he proceeded to go up to the second story and open up the "office." What the office really was was a small sized apartment that was obviously abandoned, like the whole library itself. A kitchenette, living room (the living room had a fold out couch, a desk, and very usefully, a punching bag), a modest closet contains a safe (Jack promised himself he'd get it open,) and a bathroom (that's plumbing surprisingly still worked) was what the apartment consisted of, so for the next three days he cleaned up the apartment making it livable enough using the cleaning items still contained in the library. After that was done he went into the library and found a book titled "electric repair for dummies." Reading the book cover to cover in about an hour he fixed the electricity for the apartment so he could at least have the lights on when he took a shower along with other things, sure he was nocturnal and had night vision but it didn't mean he wanted to sit in the dark every time he was in the apartment. The next day after he awoke he decided before anything else he needed to figure out if the crotchety old badger, well old to him, would be coming back to this place.

From what he could deduce, The whole place hadn't been visited in weeks at least and the badger no longer received any of his mail here. So he surmised that the badger either just abandoned this place and moved, or died; but since the badger was 45, in relatively good shape, and a veteran he guessed the badger just abandoned the place. So coming to the conclusion that the badger wouldn't be coming back he locked the doors of the library, picked up the books he had left on the front desk, took them to the desk in the "office," and started reading.

*perspective shift, plus two weeks later*

David Badgerton was walking down one of the sidewalks of Happytown paws in his pockets as he headed towards his old library. At least once a month he went there just to reminisce about things and maybe on the occasion grab a book or two. But for this trip he also had the purpose of finally taking his Kbar knife from the service home with him to put above the mantle to his gas fireplace that doesn't work. He didn't even know why he kept it at the library, he just did. As he rounded the finial corner his library came into view and what he saw confused him greatly, the lights were on. Sure it was night but he never turned the lights on unless he was there and he always turned them off when he left. Next his beady brown eyes were drawn to the window were his "office" was and now concerned, because he cut the power to the apartment because he never ventured in there. With a frown set deep into his muzzle he walked up to the library doors and turned the knob, only for nothing to happen, the door was locked.

Now he was pissed. Some lowlife decided to move into HIS library without asking and locked him out? Oh-ho someone was gonna get their furry ass BEAT. Pulling out his keys he flicked to the one for the library and inserted it into the keyhole only for nothing to happen, whoever this bastard was also changed the locks. Now even more furious David put his shoulder into the door causing it to break open, moving into the library and pulling his pistol from his back holster and clicking the safety off he moved towards the stairs silent as a mute mouse but with a purpose. He stalked up the stairs and to the door of his "office." The door was halfway open so he decided to look inside to see just what lowlife scum piece of garbage thought it was okay to take over Sergeant-Major David Badgerton's library before whooping their furry ass.

To say he was surprised when he peered inside would've been an understatement. Sitting at the desk with his back turned to David was a young red fox reading a book. Next to the fox's left was a very impressive stack of books, almost twenty, with at least another twenty stacked by the fox's left leg. Now when David made the library he filled it with books that he believed would help mammals learn useful skills to get good jobs but such a thing as good jobs was unheard of for those that were stuck in Happy Town, which was the main reason he closed the library.

Returning from his musings he took a moment to observe just what kind of books this particular fox had been reading. The books stacked on the desk were all anything and everything related to combat, stealth tactics, history of guns, knives, swords, different martial arts books, written tutorials, the list goes on with all of it relating to combat. He then glanced at the stacks by the fox's left leg, these books were an assortment of subjects: history, science, only a few math books, English literature, several other language books (Spanish, Russian, and Japanese,) engineering, health, mammal anatomy, specific mammal anatomies, a book on pickpocketing, lockpicking, and several other subjects. Not to mention these weren't small books either, in fact the smallest ones were over 200 pages and the largest ones were over a 1000.

David then focused on the fox itself. It was obviously male, and very young, between 12 and 14 if David had to guess. The fox looked healthy and strong for its age, and when he focused on his back more a inaudible snarl took over his muzzle and is eyes began to burn with fury not directed at the fox itself but to whoever put the scars on the foxes back. There were at least eight of them and a dozen at the most all situated on his upper back, cross and criss-crossing each other every which way. They were wide enough to where the foxes fur didn't cover them and probably wouldn't unless it was winter and maybe even then not completely. Then when the fox shifted a little David also caught a glimpse of the scar on the left side of his neck and became even more furious, wanting to punch a wall and then hunt down whatever mammal or mammals did that to the poor fox.

David immediately knew that he wasn't gonna beat this particular mammal to a pulp for taking over his library, nor was he gonna kick the fox out either. No this fox was a victim of society so much worse than the other foxes David had met in his entire life, maybe even combined. He was gonna let this fox stay here, hell maybe even teach him how to fight seeming how that was something this fox definitely wanted to learn. Before he decided to make his presence known David decided to look over the rest of the apartment to see just what the fox had done to the place. He was first drawn to the right side of the desk the fox was sitting at, he noticed there was another book but he couldn't tell what this one was about, and before he could think on it any more the fox closed the book he was reading and promptly dropped it onto one of the stacks by it's leg and then shifted the book on his right to right in front of him and began reading that one. On the fox's right also was a glass of water and, surprisingly, David's knife, which had been locked in the safe. It sat out of its sheath on a sharpening stone, looking sharper than it had ever been in years. The kitchenette over to the right looked all cleaned up and in working order, the punching bag looked like it had been replaced, and then David's eyes settled on the left wall.

His eyes widened and bulged. Adorning the entire left wall was, well battle plans if David had to choose what to call what he saw. The fox had the plans broken up into three stages, at least that's what the fox called them, Stage One started at the top of the first column with a small snippet from the newspaper The HappyTown Times, the snippet was dated two years ago and said, "Fire in Happytown burns down home of James and Katherine Hunter, kills both and leaves their son Jack Hunter orphaned." A single well worn photo of what must have been Katherine Hunter was placed right below the snippet to the left, and to the right of the photo was written, "arson not just a fire, not just an arson, and arson to cover up a double mammalcide and attempt of a third, me. Scar on my neck is proof, don't need more proof, need revenge, find the mammals who did this, kill them, kill them all. No mercy." Under the photo and writing was 6 hand drawn images of what must have been the attackers if, who David now knew to be Jack Hunter the six year old orphaned son of the Hunters, was to be believed. the drawing were incredibly detailed and colored, first was a male billy goat, next were three rams, followed by two male deer. Under each after all the details was what Jack believed their role was. Under the billy goat was, "leader." Under the three rams was, "leader guards." And under the two male deer was, "enforcers." Something David noted they all had in common was in the descriptions of all six mammals they all had three blue dots dyed on either side of their necks. Under the photos and descriptions drawn directly on the wall was a depiction of the three dots and next to it the words "gang? Symbol for gang? Need more information."

The plans for Stage One continued down the wall but David moved his attention to the second column labeled Stage Two. This stage was immensely more thought out and went into much greater detail but David internally summarized what the goal of Stage Two was. " _So Jack wants to expose the headmistress of the orphanage he was sent to, Honorhall, which is an all prey orphanage? Anyways he wants to expose her for murdering a orphan there, a seven year old male rabbit named James Sparrowtail. Sparrowtail was murdered for protecting Jack and his body was buried behind the orphanage, he also wants to expose her for the beatings and torture he endured during his stay as well as what the other children did. His end goal is for her to be arrested and the orphanage shut down._

 _According to his notes he has all the evidence and will only present it to a officer Adonis Bogo anonymously. If Bogo doesn't do the right thing Jack will just take the evidence public after he kills the headmistress. He doesn't expect the public to do anything about what was done to him but he expects there will be an uproar over Sparrowtail's murder. He also plans on ruining Bogo's career if Bogo doesn't take this evidence and seek justice, and he also mentions that Bogo must not bring the evidence to his chief, Henry Ironsides."_

This led to David to look at the third column, Stage Three. Stage three went into by far the most detail and was the most planned out, and the plans goal was pretty simple, expose Ironsides corruption and specism resulting in having him arrested and striped of his uniform and rank. Jack had plans on how to gather all the evidence he needed to take down Ironsides and had speculations on just what Ironsides was also involved in. Jack also planned on giving all of this evidence again to Adonis Bogo if Bogo pulled through on Stage Two. Also as with Stage Two Jack plans on taking the information public and planning to kill Ironsides if society chooses to ignore his crimes. In fact those plans alone were the most detailed, even containing bullprints of Precinct One and Ironsides house. This wall all highly illegal but David couldn't find it within himself to care, this poor fox Jack Hunter was a victim of Zootopia's society to the highest degree, and the fox knowing this made plans to fix the wrongs committed against him, by force.

So no David wasn't going to oust him to the authorities, no. He was going to help Jack Hunter, he was going to train him. Sighing audibly and flicking the safety back on David started to open his mouth to make his presence known to the young fox. But when David's eyes returned to the fox he saw Jack's ear and tail twitch, hackles raise, head tilted and a single eye focused in on David's gun before narrowing. At that moment David knew, Jack heard the click, and he knew Jack was about to go on the offensive.

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 **I felt that this was a good place to stop part one of the prologue. Next time on A Father Figure! Jack goes on the offensive against David Badgerton, alliances are formed, plans are set in motion. Thus starts Prologue Part Two: Jack's Revenge. Stay tuned!**


	2. Prologue Part Two: Jack's Revenge

Ok _ladies and gentlemen here's the second installment of my story A Father Figure. Prologue Part 2: Jack's Revenge. Apologies in advance for this long author note._

 _This will be LONG, probably more than double the size just in the effort to get it out of the way. Time lapses, perspective shifts, etc. It will be so long In fact that if you want to give your eyes a rest I'd suggest doing it during the time lapses that will be in this chapter. Not all of my chapters will be super long like this, probably just for the prologue but who knows it may change._

 _By the way David Badgerton's voice is Hugh Jackman's voice. So you can imagine that in your head when David speaks, and Jack's young voice can be however you interpret it. Older Jack is the same as with most of the other characters I bring in._

 _Also, I did warn you I was going dark places with Jack in this story. There's always dark before the light. Can't have him be this perfect thing now can I? This story is about healing for the Wildes (_ _oops did I type that!?)_ _after all besides being a happier AU for nick. anyways, brace yourselves because it's about to get a whole lot darker! Mwahahaha!_

 _Please read and review, also! I need beta readers! PM me if interested!_

 _Also be patient, this is my first inscursion into writing and there will be a lot of grammer and spelling mistakes. So sometimes if you see updates it's just me fixing stuff I missed. So sorry in advance if I get your hopes up on updates, remember to look at the number of chapters to avoid disappointment!_

 _P.s. everything I write will be in third person with perspective shifts focusing back and forth on different characters and their thoughts. This can occur multiple times in a chapter and will almost always happen at least once a chapter. There will also be paragraphs mixed in that are entirely narrative to help out on things and move them along. In case you were wondering yes there are Easter eggs. Also I call the country Zootopia is in_ _Mammilia (not Europe based)_

 _Now that that's all out of the way lets get into it._

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Prologue Part Two: Jack's Revenge

Jack knew the Badger was there. He had heard the library door breaking, he smelled the Badger when it got halfway into the building, he heard it glide up the steps, and he heard it stop at the door. Jack decided he wouldn't give away the fact that he knew that Badger was there, no, because he also knew the Badger was armed with a gun. He had smelled the oil from it when the Bader had reached the top of the steps so Jack was just content to wait and see just what the Badger would do. He didn't even bother to attempt to cover his plans on the wall to his left, he didn't want to risk his advantage. Although Jack regretted that decision now because even if the Bagder didn't try to kill him, which lets face it, there's a fox squatting where it used to live and seemed to help itself to everything; regardless of that Jack knew he would have to kill the Badger. It wasn't looking at the wall at the moment, but it was only a matter of time.

He was saddened at the fact, this Badger didn't do anything wrong to deserve his coming death, but Jack COULD NOT allow this Badger to turn him into the authorities. So the Badger had to die. Thinking further on what his plan was Jack decided to keep reading the book in front of him (it's topic being security systems). He had the knife he found in the safe of all places right beside him on the desk well within reach, sharpened to the point where it could pierce metal like butter, he knew that because he had tried, but at the same time he knew he couldn't reach the Badger quick enough to stab him before being pumped full of lead.

Throwing the knife was out of the question too, the margin of missing greatly outweighed the margin of hitting his intended target. Then it clicked, if he used the knife as a distraction by throwing it into the wall he could get close enough to get the gun out of the Badger's paws and into his. With his plan set he decided to keep reading and wait for the Badger (who had yet to do anything) make the first move. After about 5 or 6 minutes of waiting patiently and reading Jack began to wonder if the Badger had somehow fallen asleep standing up or something, and he had just finished reading the book in front of him, so he took the opportunity of placing the book at feet and quickly glanced at the Badger. _"Standard male Badger if not a bit tall for his species. Beady brown eyes, slight greying around his muzzle, probably mid to late fourites. Black button up tucked into tan slacks, gun is a Berreta 9mm Badger Special. Should fit into my paws easy enough."_ After Jack had gathered all of that information in the time it took to flop the book onto the pile, he went back to patiently waiting for the right moment and it came when the Badger sighed.

 _*Perspective Shift*_

In the time it took David Badgerton to blink the fox was out of the chair and David's own knife was hurtling towards him. The knife embedded itself into the wall on his right all the way to the hilt, and when David turned to look at the knife in the wall he relaized he had just made a big mistake. A red blur slammed directly into his chest the second he looked away from the fox sending David sliding out of the doorway and straight into the railings three feet back, the railings groaned in protest but luckily held. Before David had time to contemplate or say anything a black furred fist slammed into the underside of his muzzle HARD, followed immediately after by another black furred fist slamming into the right side of his face, HARD. Insticnt had David lifting the gun while simultaneously clicking the safety off before remembering that he was to help this fox not put a bullet into it.

That slight delay cost David dearly. Another fist crashed into his muzzle followed immediately after by the gun in his paw being wrenched from his grip and skittering several feet to the left almost going down the steps leading to the library. _"Damn this youngster can hit hard." *_ another punch lands on the badger's face _"Not to mention a young fox at that. But why is he attacking me? Hmm, well he could have mistaken me flicking the safety off instead of on, but that can't be the only reason. Ah I know what it is, if I was him I'd do anything in my power to see these plans through and stay out of jail until they're done. This is probably why he's trying to kill me._ _"_ With his thoughts sorted David was ready to assure the fox that he wasn't going to kill him or turn him in but, another punch, this time a left jab to the gut was landed by the fox. _"Ok that's it playtimes over, time to teach this youngster some manners and to respect his elders. Then I'll help the furry red bastard."_ David blocked the next jab made by the fox and countered with a uppercut, jab, and hook combo. *uppercut lands good snapping the fox's head back, jab nails fox's abdomen causing the fox to make a oomph sound, hook ducked under.* David immediately followed the hook with a knee strike nailing the fox directly in the nose causing it to bleed, but instead of being knocked over by the strike like David intended the fox instead rolled with the backward momentum and immediately launched back into the fight with a leaping punch.

All of this occurred in about 45 seconds leaving David with a decent welt forming on his right cheek, a minor bloody nose, and a bruise forming on his stomach. The fox fared pretty much the same, a bruise on his abdomen, a bloody nose, and a small cut on his chin. The leaping punch was easily blocked followed by David sweeping the fox's legs from under it, but before a David could do any follow up the fox quickly shot a foot out catching David's left knee before rolling away from the retaliation punch before seemingly deciding to switch tactics. The young tod took up a boxing stance with his left hand resting lower for jabs and his right hand higher for punches and defense. The tod also was shifting back and forth like any boxer would, but David knew that this young fox had zero experience fighting another mammal, sure he could practice on the punching bag all day but the bag didn't hit back.

David smirked at the fox because he could box all day, back when he was still in the military David had even held a belt for about a year. So David knew he now had the upper paw. The fox narrowed it's eyes at him as David smirked and he couldn't resist saying to the fox, "oh you wanna dance do ya? Ok let's dance!" This worked just how David planned as a snarl took over the young tod's muzzle and he started his attack. Though it wasn't very long before the tod was on the defensive though, learning very quickly that David could box proverbial circles (and literal ones) around him. The fox kept up his attempt of fighting David boxing style, which the fox was losing very poorly at only occasionally landing a punch, for about two minutes before deciding to cut it's losses and shift to a simple martial arts stance. Shaking his head slightly David knew he had the fox beat, the young tod was panting hard and was sporting cuts, welts, and bruises all over it's body; so David decided the fox had learned his lesson and finished the fight by sweeping the fox's protruding leg. The fox hit the floor hard and David moved to stand slightly over top the fox, but before David could even get a word out he saw a victorious glint in the tod's eyes and the fox smiled victoriously at him, planted it's feet on the nearest railing and pushed itself back...right towards the gun.

 _*Perspective shift*_

The whole time Jack was fighting the Badger he was working towards his end goal. He knew that the Badger was ex-military and therefore probably be well versed in boxing so he shifted to a boxing stance on purpose to gain the Badger's confidence. During the whole bout Jack was subtly shifting the fight so his back was facing the Badger's forgotten gun. He knew he could never beat the Badger in a fist fight even if the Badger was drunk off it's ass, so he took the beating the Badger was doling out as long as it meant he could get to that gun and end it. The only mistake Jack had made in the entire fight was wrenching the gun out of the Badger's grasp and sending it skittering away. He'd only meant to disarm him so he could quickly put two rounds in his chest before finsihing it with a single round to the head. He wasn't worried about authorities showing up, gunshots were more common than laughter in Happytown so they almost never showed up; and if they did it was to load up the bodies if they were in the open, do a token investigation and then promptly leave. So no that wasn't a worry of his, neither was cleaning up the mess because the library already had all the necessary cleaning equipment. His only worry was the Badger discovering just what exactly he was doing but it never did.

When the Badger sweeped Jack's leg out from under him he was internally leaping for joy, because his plan had worked. Jack couldn't help smiling victoriously at the Badger before pushing himself off the nearest railing and sliding right towards the gun. Jack stuck his right arm out and grabbed the pistol immediately shifting to a siting position while still sliding and taking aim at the Badger. The Badger was already darting towards the open doorway of the "office" so Jack quickly fired off four rounds while sliding and trying to lead properly only managing to graze one of the Badger's arms with one round before the Badger dove through the entryway into the apartment, slamming the door to it immediately after. Jack stopped sliding just inches from the stairs and quickly shifted to a crouched position before firing two more rounds putting them through the apartment walls. Perking his ears all the way up Jack listened for the tell tale signs of a mammal dying while simultaneously getting his breathing under control to stop panting (he wasn't a fan of panting.) After only a few seconds Jack heard the Badger's breathing and curising under it's breath about "stupid red furred bastards" and something about shaving Jack's tail. At that Jack was sorely tempted to chance walking into the apartment or firing more rounds through the wall but got the urge under control.

Quickly checking the chamber and magazine Jack counted six rounds left which he knew was plenty, because it only took one placed in the right spot to drop any mammal like a sack of potatoes. Jack also observed that the bullets were marked M9mm, rembering what he had read in the books he knew that the capital m stood for "Medium Mammal." Pretty much every variant of ammunition had two configurations, Medium Mammal and Large Mammal, the difference between the two was that Meidum Mammal rounds were the regular bullets and the Large Mammal rounds were very unique. Large Mammal rounds were made unique because of the simple fact that certain mammals couldn't be easily put down with regular ammunition, and the guns made specifically for taking out large mammals were made for large mammals so any other trying to wield them were liable to blowing their own arms off from the kick. Sure there were tranquilizers but those still required multiple darts and the darts made for large mammals were only accessible for the ZPD, and therefore useless unless a mammal just so happens to have an officer nearby. So a company by the name of Phelps Arms designed a bullet that once fired, separated into several pieces while still being connected by a thin, high strength metal wire. This caused the rounds to leave considerably larger holes in large mammals without the draw back of the kick breaking the mammal firing, they were widely successful and quickly universally sold.

Breaking from his thought process and shaking his head while mentally shelfing that interesting topic for later Jack tuned his full focus back to the Badger inside the apartment. First thing he heard was the sound of the knife he threw being withdrawn from the wall while the Badger muttered "this is mine anyway...Wow, damn fox really sharpened this thing." Followed after a moment by, "I wonder if there's a med kit round here still." Jack heard the Badger shuffling around opening and closing drawers looking for said mentioned med kit. After about a minute of this Jack decided to break the silence by yelling out "under the sink and to the left!" Followed quickly by "although it won't do you much good! You still have to die, even if you weren't intending to shoot me you saw the wall and my plans! I can't let you turn me in, I won't let you. So just come out now and I'll make it quick I promise! Just know I didn't want to have to do this, you just forced my paw."

 _*Perspective shift*_

David almost jumped out of his fur when the fox spoke. He had been looking for the med kit he remembered keeping somewhere in the apartment to stitch up the graze wound on his upper left arm whilst keeping one ear and eye on the door he had slammed closed. Shifting slightly and opening the left cabinet under the sink David was surprised to find the med kit siting there _"huh, the kid wasn't lying. But how in blazes did he even hear me? Not to mention why tell me?"_ David was startled from his thoughts when the young tod's voice broke through the silence once more imploring him just to come out and take his death like a male. _"Damn that was pretty blunt, translation: mammal up, stop being a pussy and die like a male. The kid doesn't even sound scared bout' takin' a life, but he does sound geniune in the fact he doesn't want to kill me. Hmm, I'll try and make small talk with the kid while I stitch this damn wound up. Maybe it'll calm him down some and then I can talk him out of putting a bullet in my skull."_ With his course decided David opened his maw to speak.

 _*Perspective shift*_

"So kid what's your name?" Jack was utterly surprised by this seemingly out of the blue question, so much so that he didn't even formulate a response; he just sat there crouched, head tilted slightly in confusion and mouth slightly agape with his left eyebrow raised. He was utterly dumbfounded at this turn of events. After not answering the question for a bit the Bagder went ahead and spoke again, "it's Jack ain't it? Jack Hunter? I see this picture of Mrs. Hunter, and she has those beautiful sea foam green eyes, same as you. So you must be her son Jack eh?" Just thinking about his mother and father tears began to prick at the corners of Jack's eyes. Blinking them away and swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat Jack harshly answered back "Do NOT speak of my mother! Don't even look at her photo! You don't really care! No one does!" Barely a moment passed before the Badger replied "you might just he surprised kid. I am sorry about your parents, I never knew them but they seem like they were good mammals... how did they die?" Slightly shocked by the Badger's relply Jack swallowed the lump again and said "they...were stabbed...dad was shot too..they were left to bleed out and die just the same as me...I just got lucky."

Towards the end of Jack's reply he had gotten choked up a little and a few tears managed to escape his eyes. The Badger seemed to had sensed Jack distress and shifted the conversation for which Jack was internally grateful for. "My names David by the way kid, David Badgerton...you know you're pretty big for a fox, especially at your age." At that statement Jack smiled slightly and said "really? I hadn't noticed." David chuckled hearltly and quickly replied "ok yeah I walked into that one, just trying to make conversation. How old are ya kid?" ... "I'm six." ... "Ah six, you're really young then wow...You look twelve." Jack's head which had gone back to its regular position instantly tilted again followed by Jack smiling and replying "again thank you captain obvious." ... "Oh come on kid cut me some slack here, this has turned into a very weird day for me. Anyways...this is quite the impressive amount of books here, must be at least forty...how long have you been here exactly?" Thinking for a moment Jack answered "two weeks." ... "two weeks!? Sweet mother! There's no way you've read all of these books!" Frowning slightly he replied "I haven't, I've read 41 out of 42." ... "oh come on kid quit pulling my leg how is that even possible! Some of these are over a 1000 pages!" At that one of Jack's eyebrows raised up again followed by "I read super fast." ... "well that's obvious kid! But even if you read 10,000 words a minute you still wouldn't have been able to read all of these! Let alone remember it all!" Now Jack was getting a little offended. "I remember everything I've read! Everything!" ... "yeah kid sure, now I know your pulling my leg." Jack growled a little at David's reply and quickly belted out "I can prove it! Pick any book there and a page and I can recite it word for word!"

So naturally David decided to accept this challenge and grabbed a book out from the bottom of the stack on the desk and picked a page more towards the middle. "Okay kid, book is The Complete Catalogue and Histories of Knives, page 274." Sorting through his mental database and pulling up the book and page number Jack noted it was the page on the Karambit, a knife Jack found himself fascinated with. Clearing his throat a little Jack recited the entire page as promised, word for word. The process was repeated several more times and each time as soon as Jack pulled the book from his mental database he recited the page selected word for word. Finally David gave up trying to disprove Jack and began to believe him. "Ok kid so you weren't lying. But how the hell is this even possible!? Also you still haven't fully explained how you managed to read all of these in two weeks!" After a pause Jack began explaining, "Well I've always remembered everything I've read. Not only that but everything I've heard, seen, smelled, I guess you can say in my case I really do remember anything." After a slight pause Jack added a little dejectedly "It also means I haven't forgotten anything, and maybe never will no matter how hard I try." After this Jack sighed and then continued with his explanation, "mommy and daddy did always say I was special, at first I thought they meant it on the way that other parents say their kits are special, but I've realized what they really were saying now...I think it's some kind of rare medical thing, but all the medical books that are there that I've read haven't mentioned anything similar to what I have. So I don't know what it is."

After about a minute of practically dead silence David finally replied. "Wow...that's just incredible kid. Your parents weren't lying you ARE a special kit. Now super brain set aside how have you read all of these books so quickly other than reading them fast?" At this question Jack got a little nervous and shifted his left paw off the gun (which had never waviered from the door throughout the entire conversation, Jack had not moved at all) and rubbed the scar on his neck and sheepishly answered in sort of a quiet voice "I didn't, no, I don't sleep." ... "say that again kid." ... "I don't sleep." ... "and pray tell why don't you sleep Jack? Not sleeping isn't good for you." Finally sagging from his crouched postion Jack promptly flopped into a sitting position, crossed his legs, placed the gun on his right thigh with his paw still on it with the barrel still facing towards the door, and curled his tail around himself. Looking down a little dejectedly Jack replied "nightmares." Sighing deeply he continued "they're bad, vivid, and constant. Part of remembering everything is the price that when you dream everything is in such clarity you feel as if you are back at those worst moments in your life. I may be six years old but I'd wager I've seen and experienced way more trauma than even you...and you're a old veteran. Every bad thing I've seen and has happened to me comes back whenever I close my eyes...forced to relive my darkest moments every night. It's like some sort of hell loop I can't escape no matter how hard I try. I have no happy dreams and no nights were I haven't dreamt at all. Not anymore. Just nightmare after nightmare. Once I reached my first year at that awful place Honorhall I decided that if I just didn't sleep, that I wouldn't have to relive those moments over and over again...The first night I came here I risked trying to sleep, the last time I had slept had been 11 months, and since I was out of that dreadful place I figured maybe I wouldn't have any nightmares, I was so very wrong. So now I won't make that mistake again...besides not sleeping doesn't seem to bother me, no adverse affects. I took up meditation while at the orphanage, maybe that's why. I also drink straight black coffee every morning and bought certain supplements meant to help nocturnal mammals function better during the day time so they don't have to drink a lot of caffeine. They work too thankfully, coffee is icky."

 _*Perspective shift*_

David wiped the few tears that had fallen off of his cheeks. He thought the poor kit had it rough before, he was now convinced that the young tod was probably the most traumatized mammal he had ever met, and the tod was only six. Six! He had veteran buddies that had severe cases of PTSD but even they didn't compare to the poor fox. Little Jack had sounded so sullen and dejected when he had explained why he didn't sleep to David, and he couldn't help but feel guilty for making him explain that. So David decided to risk something and hopefully change the subject back to lighter stuff before offering to help the young tod. He put away the med kit as he was done with it and had been for awhile, he looked at his watch as he did that and noted they had been talking for about 15 minutes. With that done he took the knife that he had placed right above him and walked the very short distance to the desk and promptly placed the knife back in its sheathe. He then while still holding the knife walked to the door, opened it, and tossed the sheathed knife towards the young tod while keeping his head and most of his body still inside the apartment. He kept his body in the same position to see if Jack would shoot him while the knife skittered along the floor and going past, at least he assumed, past the fox and tumbling down the stairs.

Staying in the exact same postion for about 30 seconds longer David waited to see if Jack would shoot him. When Jack didn't, David assumed that it hopefully meant that Jack wouldn't outright shoot him if he walked out the door. So David took the plunge and fully stepped into Jack's field of view and promptly sat down with his back on the door frame, right leg stretched out, left knee up with his left arm resting on top of it and his paw hanging loosely so it didn't obstruct his view of the young tod. The tod as he was doing this was sitting slightly slumped but sat up completely straight when David came into view. The young fox was sitting legs crossed with his tail curled around him, David also noted the gun was resting on Jack's right thigh with the barrels positioning having it aiming just above his head. Jack's tail was puffed out in surprise and David also noticed the small tear tracks and little bit of redness under the tod's eyes. Jack's head tilted ever so slightly in confusion but otherwise did or said nothing. David waited just looking into Jack's eyes for about a minute, watching in slight amusment as Jack's head tilted more and more in confusion till it reached the point of full tilt before thinking of something to say to lighten and restart the conversation up. After settling on a topic David opened his maw to speak.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack was shocked when he heard the door open, he had been looking at the ground with a few more tears tracking down his face when he heard it open. His tail puffed out in alarm and he fully expected to see David coming out to take adavantage of his vulnerability. What he wasn't expecting was to see the knife he had thrown into the wall as a distraction come flying out of the apartment in it's sheathe and go skittering past him and down the stairs. Jack followed the knife's path and turned back towards the door after it began to tumble down the stairs. When he turned back Jack noted that David had his arm and some of his body still outside the doorway and immediately decided against taking advantage of that and shooting him, heck he wasn't even sure if was gonna shoot him anymore either.

He was utterly dumbfounded when after a few moments David came fully into view and quickly sat down facing Jack looking him right in his sea foam green eyes. Jack tilted his head slightly in confusion and was also sorely tempted to wipe the tear tracks off of his face but decided against it. Jack's head slowly tilted more and more as the seconds ticked by with David just staring at him as until he couldn't tilt it any further. Jack was tempted to say something but decided to wait for David to speak first, and after a whole minute of David staring at him he finally spoke. "By the way kid I'm not old, I'm only 45." If Jack's head could tilt anymore it would probably snap off and roll on the floor, so instead he raised an eyebrow slightly. Quickly thinking up a reply Jack said with slight amusement "That is old!" David snorted a little before retorting "sure pup maybe to you!"

They bantered back and forth for another good fifteen minutes before it seemed David decided to wrap things up, after all the mood had improved greatly, also during the banter he noticed Jack flip the safety on the handgun. The topic they were currently bantering back and forth over was coffee. "I still think it's yucky!" David scoffed at that and replied "it's probably because you bought the wrong kind boy! I'm telling you kid one cup of black goodness from Snarlbucks and you'll be hooked on the stuff like the rest of the nocturnal mammals in this city!" Jack snorted at that and relpiled "If you say so Mr. Badgerton. If you say so." David didn't know why but during their banter Jack had shifted to more formal and polite by calling him Mr. Badgerton; and if it wasn't for the fact there was still his handgun resting on the tod's lap and the fact that he knew his story David would think he was talking to a regular six year old fox. But regardless he knew it was time to wrap this up, it was getting late, they both hadn't eaten, Jack needed to get cleaned up (he had stopped bleeding from the cuts caused by the fight awhile ago but all of if that didn't drip to the floor dried on his fur matting it) Jack also needed to put on new clothes (the blue jeans he had been wearing were badly torn and he was still shirtless) and the walls and library door weren't going to repair themselves, not to mention David still hadn't told Jack he wasn't going to turn him but instead help him by training him.

Jack sensed the nice bantering conversation drawing to a close. He didn't know what was gonna happen next but he suspected that Mr. Badgerton wasn't going to turn him in. After all Mr. Badgerton could have already called the authorities when he fled into the apartment, Mr. Badgerton could have done a lot of things by now, so yes, Jack was confident that Badgerton wouldn't turn him in or kill him for that matter. But other than that he was clueless as to what was gonna happen next.

A steady silence grew between them before Badgerton cleared his throat and then spoke. "Look kid, I'm pretty sure by now you've realized that I ain't gonna kill you, that was never on the table. I had planned to beat the crap out of the mammal that had decided to take over my library but when I saw just exactly who moved in I also decided I wasn't gonna beat the snot out them, you, either. But of course that planned changed when a certain someone's black furred fists slammed into me a couple of times. So I shelved what I was planning to do to teach you a lesson, and before you go on apologizing I don't blame you for attacking me at all, no. Heck I would have done the same damn thing if I was you since you got those plans on the wall...So get up kid and go get yourself cleaned up, then I'll take a look at those wounds I put on ya, hopefully none of them will need stitches I pulled my punches best I could...anyways, after that I'll go get us some grub while you clean up round here and after we eat I'll fix the door I broke. Now before you go asking why I'm doing all of this I'll answer it now. I'm going to help you kid, I'm going to train you, I'm gonna teach you everything I know so you can get your revenge. It's gonna be a long road kid, and it's not gonna be easy. But at the end of it you'll be ready to take your revenge and get your justice...and one more thing... Don't call me Mr. Badgerton. After everything that's happened it's just weird kid. So call me David unless we're training then it's Sir. Now you can of course refuse all of this and if you do I'll just leave, you can even keep my knife and gun. So, don't say anything. Just shake your head yes or no, do you want my help?"...Jack nodded.

 _*six years later*_

Jack was ready. It had been six long years but in his eyes he was finally ready. David was true to his word and taught him everything he knew, and what he didn't know, he called in favors from old military buddies or straight up friends to come and teach Jack. Jack of course taught himself a great many things as well, sometimes having David go out and purchase things to help Jack learn it but other wise self taught. Standing and looking in a full body mirror Jack could hardly recognize himself. He had matured greatly and grown much making him look to be in his early twenties and not the age of 12 he really was. He was twice the height, now over the average size of a full grown fox (foxes, like most mammals on average reached their full height at 18, but it's possible for mammals to grow slightly more until they are around 22.) in fact, he was just a head under the average height of a wolf much to his suprise. He naturally gained more weight now weighing in at 153 pounds of pure muscle, which was about the average weight for an 18 year old wolf. He still had the lean muscles a fox would have just more visible through his fur but not to ridiculous lengths; his shoulders were broad and stood straight as an arrow. He'd also gone through purberty already starting when he was 11, sure it was a little uncommon for mammals to go through puberty so young but it wasn't unheard of.

Looking at his appearance more he contemplated on one of the skills he was now an expert at, disguise. Jack learned how to change pretty much everything about himself. He could change how he sounded, spoke, he could put on several different accents, he could fluently change his posture and gait and made it seem like it was natural, he could also completely change mannerisms in a blink of an eye and shift into different personas. He was also an expert with fur dyes and eye color contacts, he could change his appearance as a red fox a 100 different times and change himself into majority of the fox breeds all with a 100 different variations. He, since he was already close in height and weight to a wolf, could also change himself to look like a wolf with only slight prosthetics to alter things like muzzle shape and use certain fur products to make his fox brush look like a wolf's tail. (even though he detested messing with his tail like that.) As with the other species he could pull off with the variations he could also do the same with appearing to be a wolf, and could even switch to wolf mannerisms, customs, and habits in the blink of an eye. As it comes with disguises he was also an expert at adopting new identities and procuring and making documents to go with said identities.

Coming back from his contemplations he observed himself in the mirror again and took notice of his changed appearance. Gone were his brilliant sea foam green eyes and in their place were robin blue eyes, his body fur was no longer russet colored but instead more red, his paws were tipped a lightish brown instead of black, and his tail was tipped white instead of black. Jack admitted to himself that he wasn't the biggest fan of changing his appearance, removing the fur dye on his tail alone was a hassle, but changing himself entirely with dye made getting the stuff off a nightmare. So no Jack wasn't the biggest fan of it, but this was one the most valuable skills to possess for what he was getting ready to do. He for the moment, didn't even officially go by the name Jack Hunter. Instead he adopted the name James Dapper, until it came time to burn the identity and adopt another

Jack also decided to mentally list off things he was now an expert (or damn near close) at. _"Marksmanship, lockpicking, hacking, pickpocketing, disguise, Japanese weaponry, Assault rifles, handguns, machine guns, carbines, shotguns, tranquilizer guns, stun guns, the asp baton,_ _knives, swords, throwing knives, throwing axes, throwing weapons in general, edged weapons in general. Stealth, infiltration, forgery, emotion suppression and control, 16 different fighting styles, defensive driving, evasive driving, mammal anatomies, criminal justice, Phycology, Sociology, mammal biologies, chemistry, engineering, and mechanics. History of Zooptopia, history of Mammilia, ZPD and ZBI criminal databases, layout of Zootopia, Zootopian citizens database, security systems. Fluent in 6 different languages including Spanish, Russian, and Japanese."_ Out of all of that one of Jack's personal favorites was mastering the Japanese weapon the Kyoketsu-shoge, although unlike the regular blades found on them his was more of a Karambit style blade.

He then looked around the "library" although it could barely be called that anymore. All of the books and shelves were moved to one side of the library to make room for everything else. Tinkering table, sparring ring, training ring, strategy table, tech area, disguise area, weapons tables, the list goes on. The weapons tables were all stacked with edged weapons and a few batons, but not one single gun. Jack had gotten only three guns, a M416 BlackWolf, a P30L BlackWolf with a custom compensator, and a compact Glock 26 MysticFox. All three firearms were currently sitting on the strategy table. Jack had made the library his headquarters but he was ready to burn this place in a moments notice if the need arose as he had several "stashes" that contained duplicates of the things contained in the library. He was able to procure all of this equipment through David because as it turns out there's pretty much nothing you couldn't buy on the black market. All of it was able to be purchased because David's grandparents had been wealthy and when they died they left their small fortune to him which is why David no longer lived in Happytown.

This thought led Jack to recount the state Happytown and the city of Zootopia as a whole. Since a whole six years had lasped many improvements had been made and wrongs righted. The all prey city council was now half predators, this was caused when now Sargent Adonis Bogo walked into a council meeting four years ago and arrested half the damn council for corruption charges on LIVE television. So leaps and bounds were made on improving predator rights and intermingling them into Zootopian society the way they should have been from the start. Also a predator mayor (the first one in Zootopian history) sat in the big chair at city hall, this happened also happened four years ago when Sargent Adonis Bogo arrested the current mayor then on corruption charges again on LIVE television. But not only that, it was during the press conference that the mayor was addressing the arrest of half the city council! Oh as Jack and David were watching this go down they were both howling with laughter! That had been a good day. The now mayor at the time was the assistant mayor back then, a female tiger named Terra Claws and she also contributed to improving the city greatly. During her second year in office she created an all preadator special joint ZPD/ZBI task force with the goal of them dismantling the gangs that infested Happytown so she could move in and hopefully start improving the place for the predators stuck there.

The task force was a huge success and they cleared 78 percent of Happytown's gangs and seized thousands of guns and billions of dollars in drugs and money. This allowed Claws to safely move in and she improved the conditions of Happytown by 15 percent before she had to pull out due to budget cuts. So Happytown once again was practically left to fend for itself. Though it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before. Her finial act of improving Happytown was doubling the amount of ZPD patrols in Happytown to hopefully keep new gangs from forming and to curb the crime rate and it was successful with a 27 percent decrease in crime over the next four years. Oddly though Precinct One did zero patrols in Happytown even though parts of it were on the edge of the Precinct's patrol zone. Jack suspected it had something to do with the fact that Henry Ironsides was still the chief of Precinct One. But all and all Zootopia had been improved tremendously but it was no where near what it should have been. But this didn't mean Jack was gonna stop his mission no no, he was still going through with all of it, and as soon as David returned he would start it.

 _*Perspective shift*_

David was on his was back to the library with some great intel, he found the Goat, but there was a problem. Glancing at the file laying in the passenger seat next to him as he drove his SUV he couldn't help but shake his head at the Goat's unfortunate name, Billy Goatson. But ridiculous name or not this goat was the leader of the group that had killed Jack's parents, so he was going to die. But not before Jack interrogated him for the names of the other mammals present that day and any other useful info he could dig out of the goat before it died. The information had come with a price as with all things in the world and it came as personal risk to a close friend of David's, a black wolf named Demetri Wolfgang. (Though employing polar bears in the future back in the day Mr. Big's guards were wolves.) Demetri was able to procure the information due to the fact that Demetri was in close ties to his boss and his bosse's family, the Corleone crime family. Demetri was one of the mob bosses right hand mammals, the boss only known by the name Mr. Big. Which was ironic and a little funny if you knew what species the Corleone were, they were shrews.

But regardless that they were tiny predators the Corleone family were not to be messed with or joked with, and the same goes for those the family considers freinds. Which in lied the problem, the bastard Billy Goatson was friends with the Corleone family and Mr. Big himself. Apparently Billy's grandmother was friends with Mr. Big's grandmama and they met each other that way. So Jack going after Billy would more than likely put a target on his back and it scared him, because he knew Jack would just shrug it off. David couldn't help it, six years now he'd know the kid. He trained him, hung out with him, he didn't just see Jack as a protege, he saw him as family. David had never had any children and had married only once, so he had no one just like Jack in a way; and in a way Jack was probably the closest thing he'd ever have to having a son.

Of course he never told Jack any of this, Jack was singularly focused on getting justice for his parents and Sparrowtail not to mention his own revenge. Jack had no time for anything else. David knew foxes were solitary creatures but Jack took it to a whole nother' level, if Jack wasn't receiving training by David or one of David's associates he was training himself, learning a heap of new things and only stoping to eat and go to the bathroom. David could even count on one paw the times Jack hadn't been training and just hung around with him. Hell David had said that Jack was ready two years ago but Jack had just shook his head and said "not yet." So the last two years Jack had just been training himself in things occasionally calling upon David to procure things for him. One of the most frustrating things Jack taught himself though was emotional suppression and control. Jack had always acted more like a kid in David's presence when they weren't training but as the years passed Jack started not just suppressing emotions, but losing them. Jack's eyes had always retained some vibrant light in them despite all that had been done him and it gave David hope that maybe Jack could heal when all of this was finally over. But that light had been extinguished, but not by what was done to him or society, but himself, Jack put out his own light.

Now Jack was comepletly emotionless, no happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, disgust, nothing. It was like Jack was a machine! Even his ears and tail gave nothing away, they didn't move unless Jack let them and when he did it was a facade. He didn't even let his hackles raise unless he was fighting! David could not help but feel guilty in his part in this, but he supposed it was better than Jack being dead or in Jail. It also didn't help that Jack still never slept. David had tried to help Jack in that regard but after a week of trying everything they could Jack had given up, stating "I'll try to sleep again when this is over. Maybe then I can finally have peace and sleep dreamlessly." The last time Jack had slept was five years ago.

Of course all of this wasn't helped by the fact that David was no longer aloud to call Jack, well, Jack. David was only aloud to call him by the fake name he was currently using or the nickname David had given him a couple of weeks after they had met, NightOwl. It had been the perfect fit in David's eyes, Jack was a fox therefore nocturnal and he never slept. But now it wasn't a nickname it was a code name, and practically the only thing he called Jack because it was impossible to remember his fake identities and their many names. Of course he still slipped and called him Jack every now and then only to be reprimanded immediately after.

It was hard for David to believe that Jack was only twelve. He was completely mature, practically fully grown, and he looked to be in his early twenties. His kithood and kitness was robbed from him, and it didn't sit well with David at all. But hopefully, it would all change when Jack finally got his revenge.

 _*Perspective Shift*_

Jack heard David's SUV pull up in front of the "library" and stood to great him anxious to know what had him rushing out the door about two hours prior. David walked into the building and instead of stopping and greeting him walked straight past saying, "hey NightOwl, I got some presents for you. Meet me at the strategy table." Jack raised an eyebrow as David walked briskly by him but otherwise did or said nothing, he simply turned and followed David to the table.

Once at the table Jack opened his mouth first to speak. "Ok David, just what the hell is going on? You just got up and left talking rapidly into your phone! What's up!" David looked and Jack and replied "first things first, I got you these." David then reached into the bag he was holding and pulled out two identical items, Jack recognized what they were and scooped one up immediately. David gained an amused glint to his eyes and said "So I take it you know what those are." Jack looked at David and quickly repiled "of course I know what these are! They're hidden blades! I attach the straps to my wrists, make a specific motion with my paws and the blades come out! Not only that, these blades aren't alone! The whole thing has been modified to make room for the Derringers and the QuickDraw actions they sit in! These are incredbile!"

David smiled at Jack's reaction and replied "I knew you'd like em, I got them custom made for your birthday NightOwl. I know it was yesterday but they weren't quite ready yet." Jack smiled back at David and replied "well as long as you got them to me that's what counts. But that's not why you up and left in such a rush and while I appreciate these, you're stalling. So if you'd please get to the point." During this Jack had taken up a slightly scolding and impatient tone that made David sigh. Once his sigh was over David got down to business. "I found him." ... "David that's not very helpful, who did you find!?" ... "I found the goat."

For Jack that was like being handed a gift from the gods. His eyes widened and David finally saw an emotion peak through, rage. Jack briskly walked around to where David was standing and grabbed him by the shoulders and then belted out "who is he? WHERE is he. Tell me everything, NOW." David put his paws in the air and backed away from Jack a little before pulling out the file and tossing onto the table while saying "it's all in there NightOwl. His name, address, phone number, place of work, places he frequents, everything you need to know is in that file."

Jack quickly scooped up the file off of the table and opened it, he may read things at 20,000 words a minute but this he was gonna take his time reading. The first thing he noticed was the photo of the Goat in the upper right corner. Narrowing his eyes Jack tersely said "yep this is him." Moving his eyes away from the photo Jack began reading the info on the Goat. When he read the Goat's name Jack couldn't help snorting at his name before doing a full body shake before continuing reading. Once he was finished he closed the file and tossed it back on the table before internally going over what he had read. " _His name is Billy Goatson, his current age is 34. Not married and zero love interests it would seem. He lives at 165 Grass Fields Lane in the Meadowlands district. He's a florist, which is most likely a cover or front. He owns a private shop on 266 Sandler Lane in Sahara Sqaure. The shop has a small second story office that he stays late at on Thursdays. He takes a car back and forth and takes the exact same route. He also frequents a restaurant called Big's Place, which is a front for the Corleone crime family. No outstanding criminal record. All in all he seems like a normal mammal, but I know it's lies, and now that I've found you your life is over. You forfeited it the minute you killed my parents. Tomorrow is Thursday so congratulations Billy Goatson, you got one more day to live. Enjoy it why it lasts because come tomorrow I'm coming for you, and you'll never see me coming."_

Once Jack finished going over the information in his head he turned back to David and thanked him. "Thank you David for this. This bastard was the ringleader so I can get him to squeal like a pig and tell me who else was with him that day. I'll go pay him a visit tomorrow will he's at his shop in his office. I do have one question though, how did you get all of this David?" David cleared his throat and answered. "I have a close friend that's one of the right hand mammals for Mr. Big, the new and current mob boss of the Corleone crime family. He's a black furred wolf named Demerti Wolfgang, he got me the information. I showed him the drawings of Goatson and the others and asked if he could use his contacts and the Corleone familie's contacts to ID at least one of those mammals. Now before you ask I told him nothing except that I had business with them. Anyways when I showed the drawings he recognized Goatson and got me all the information he had on him, this could get him killed if Big ever finds out that Demetri is the reason Goatson was killed by you."

Jack listened intently to David's whole explanation but one thing stood out that needed to be addressed. "And pray tell David why would Big care if Billy Goatson was found dead in his office Friday morning." "Mr. Big would care because Billy is a close friend of the Corelone family and a personal friend of Mr. Big himself." "You're joking" was Jack's reply. "I wish I was NightOwl, but I'm not. If you kill Billy Goatson your painting a target on your back. Dodging law enforcement is one thing, but eluding the mob is a whole nother' level kid. But of course I know this won't stop you, so do it fast and cover your tracks well and just maybe Big and his wolves won't catch your scent."

 _*The next day*_

Jack had waited pateintly all day. It was now eight in the evening and the shop had just been closed up, Jack would wait another hour before breaking in and finally start his mission. He had decided to dress nicely for the occasion, not to mention his current last name was Dapper. He was wearing black slacks held up by a black belt, an asp baton resting in his left pocket, his P30L secured snugly on his right hip with its three additional magazines situated above his left back pocket, he wore a black vest with a black long sleeve undershirt with a black jacket covering it all. The jacket also covered the hidden blades secured on each of his wrists. He also had his Karambit, its sheathe secured in his lower back while the blade itself was in his hands as he was twirling it back and forth while waiting.

He was also wearing black dress shoes. Shoes were not very common and few mammals chose to wear them, the only common place you would see them would be in the military because a bullet through your foot would really mess up your day. It was for this reason Jack decided to wear shoes and if he was honest with himself it didn't really bother him, in fact, he kinda liked them. Of course these dress shoes were also special. Each shoe has a blade hidden that would come out the front when the shoes heel was hit hard on the ground a certain way.

Jack looked at the clock and saw it was 11 o'clock, quickly exiting his blacked out sedan he pulled out his locking picking tools, smiled, and said "showtime." Picking the lock in seconds he opened the door minusculy to avoid having the bells on the door sound. Once he made entrance he silently shut the door again and surveyed his surroundings, he had already hacked into the shops security system and shut down the alarm and security cameras so he didn't bother wearing a mask. Once finished with his survey of the shop Jack began crawling quietly up the steps. Once at the top he perked his ears and listened inside, he heard Goatson muttering to himself about the paperwork he was doing and assured that he wasn't on the phone with anyone Jack stood from his crouched position and kicked open the door.

As he entered he saw Goatson looking at him in surprise before reaching into his desk. Jack drew his handgun and fired a single round into Goatson's right shoulder before holstering his pistol and walking briskly towards the desk. As it turns out Goatson had been reaching into one of the drawers of the desk for a handgun that had dropped from his hoove when Jack shot him and as he approached the desk Goatson desperately typed on his computer. As Jack rounded the corner of the desk he saw Goatson was trying to make a video call on his computer to who else but Mr. Big. Jack quickly reached out and grabbed Goatson by the hair on the top of his head and promptly slammed his head into the desk three times dazing him before throwing him back into his chair. Looking at the computer he saw the video call connecting and quickly slammed Goatson's head back into the desk while simultaneously drawing his Karambit and stabbing it through the middle of the screen just before the call could connect.

Throwing Goatson back into the chair he punched him in the face as hard as he could before picking him up and throwing him across the desk knocking over everything and dropping Goatson to the floor on the other side. Rounding the desk again he saw Goatson was trying to sit up so he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and sat him up before immediately punching him back down. Shifting so he was crouched over Goatson Jack couldn't help but saying "I've been waiting a long time for this you piece of shit." Goatson let out a gurlgy chuckle before saying "oh you fuck! Hehehaha you don't know who you're fucking with! Do you know who I am! I'm the god damn florist to the fucking Corleone crime family you fuck! Hehehe you just signed your own death warrant you insolent pelt! Haha ha!" Jack responded to this by throwing six hard lightning quick punches to Goatson's face causing him to rethink his strategy. *Coughs "Oh shit ok! The safe's over there behind that painting god damnit! Code's 7825 take what you want you fuck! But the Corleone family is gonna come for you, oh are they going to come for you!"

Punching Goatson again Jack yelled out "I'm not here for the families laundered money you motherfucker I'm here for YOU! For what you did!" Goatson let out another gurgly chuckle before replying "oh and what the fuck did I do to you pelt! Huh! I don't know you from the shit I scrape off my hooves!" Jack snarled in his face and replied "maybe this will refresh your memory." Then he took out his color contacts. Goatson's eyes widened when he saw the sea foam green eyes of the fox. "Oh fuck! It's you! You're the kid from..Fuck! I knew I shouldn't have trusted that shit to stab your worthless carcass! And I knew I shouldn't have trusted that damn Rhino when he said he'd take care of you! You fuck! You should have died with your worthless mangy father and your bitch of a mother!" When Jack heard Goatson call his mother a bitch he snarled menacingly and pulled out his Karambit and stabbed it into Goatson's gut twisting the blade.

"OOOOHHH FUCK! ARRGHHH YOU *Coughs up blood and splutters* MOTHERFUCKER! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" "ENOUGH!" Jack roared back. "YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHO ELSE WAS THERE THAT DAY! YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHO TOOK PART IN KILLING MY PARERNTS AND ALMOST KILLING ME! AND YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHAT THOSE THREE DOTS ON YOUR NECK MEANS OR I AM GOING TO CARVE YOU UP LIKE A THANKSGIVING TURKEY! AND I WILL MAKE IT AS SLOW AND AS PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE! YOU HAVE NO POWER! NO CONTROL! NOW TALK!" To insinuate his point Jack pushed the knife deeper and twisted slowly causing Goatson to scream out in agony, and he continued this for a whole minute before Goatson finally broke.

"OK! OK! I'LL TELL YOU! JUST STOP!" Jack stopped twisting the blade but did not withdraw it and calmly said "go on then I'm waiting, but know that if you're lying I will start up again and I will make it a million times worse, understand?" Goatson rapidly nodded his head. "Good, now start talking." *coughs "Ok I don't remember some of their full names but I'll tell you what I know. The rams, the one that I sent to finish you is named Brandon Ramses. The other two are brothers I only know their last names, Horncove. An an an an and the deers last names were Venison and Vladez. Vladez's first name I think was Michael." Jack now with the names of the other mammals that were responsible for killing his parents decided to move things along. "Very good Billy, now tell me what those three blue dots dyed into your neck hair mean."

When it seemed that he was hesitating Jack began twisting the blade again before Goatson yelled out "OKAY! OKAY! THE DOTS ARE THE SYMBOL FOR THE PREY SUPREMACY SOCIETY!" Jack raised his eyebrow and said "oh, tell me more Billy, and remember, no bullshitting." Goatson nodded rapidly again and then continued. "We're a extremist splinter group from the Prey Alliance Commitee and Party! The PSS has thousands of members from all walks of life, and the only thing that identifies us is the blue dots! And the three blue dots represent our three leaders! I don't know why the color is blue I just know the dots stand for that! It's the leaders who ordered your families death! And it's one of the leaders that did everything that happened to you after! That's all I know! I swear!"

Jack contemplated everything he had just heard when he made a startling connection and revelation. "The Rhino you mentioned earlier, he's one of the leaders isn't he?" Goatson once again nodded rapidly and opened his mouth to speak when Jack cut him off. "Chief Ironsides." This time Goatson only nodded once in confirmation. Jack sighed deeply and muttered aloud "well this just got more complicated." He then thought about finishing up when something else clicked and an idea formed in his head, he quickly took out his phone and got ready to start and audio recording. He looked back down at Goatson and said "when I hit the record button I want you to say everything you just told me again, plus any other details about the PSS you know. Safe houses, meet locations, mammal's names, ranking lieutenants, members that are in places of power, everything. Then once that's done you're going to say why the PSS has one of their leaders be chief of Precinct One and why you were getting close to the Corleone Crime family for the PSS." Once he was finished speaking and got Goatson's acknowledgement Jack hit record.

15 minutes later Jack ended the recording and put his phone back in his pocket. Goatson now fatigued and breathless from blood loss croaked out "there, I've told you everything. Now please just let me live, let me go." Jack pretended to consider this and then looked into Goatson's eyes and slowly started to twist his knife again. Jack then coldy stated "I remember my mother saying the exact same thing, except she was begging for you and your cronies to let me go and not her. YOU KILLED MY MOTHER! GRANTED HER NO MERCY! SO YOU DESERVE NONE!" Jack watched as horror took over Goatson's face and snarled as he continued his torture.

Another 15 minutes later Jack emerged from the flower shop blood staining his clothes everywhere. Jack popped the trunk and grabbed the extra set of clothes, changing and then discarding the blood soaked clothes into the bag before sealing it and placing it back into the trunk and closing it. Me then calmly got into his car, started it and then drove off.

 _*Perspective shift plus fifteen minutes later*_

Mr. Big was sitting in his tiny chair staring at the frozen image on his computer screen. Hearing the ringing of a phone he looked over to Demetri and nodded his head, Demetri pulled out his phone and brought it close to Big before answering it and putting it on speaker. Big simply said "speak." The mammal on the other line cleared their throat nervously before saying "We found Billy sir, He's dead. It's uh, it's not pretty. It appears he was tortured before his throat was slit. Oddly sir the safe isn't missing any of its contents, whoever this mammal was, he was just here for Billy. We also looked at the security system boss, it was disabled remotely. Whoever did this was a professional, no fur, no prints, no scent. If Billy was tortured for information on the family, I'm sure the mammal got it."

Big cursed and replied "meh, anything else Robert?" "One thing sir, should we notify the authorities or let them find the body in the morning?" Was Robert's reply. "No, this stays a family matter we can't let them discover that he wasn't just our florist. Clean the scene and dispose of his body, but respectfully. Also torch the place, make it seem like an electrical fire that our dear friend couldn't escape. There was another shop owned by an otter that I was interested in before, we will see the otter in the morning and make him our new florist." ... "of course Mr. Big. But what of the mammal who did this?" Big scrunched his bushy eyebrows and replied "Do not concern yourself with it. I will handle it personally." ... "Yes sir, me and my mammals will handle this here then sir. Goodnight." Big simply waved his hand and Demetri ended the call. Looking away from the phone now Big brought his attention back to the computer screen, and the frozen image of the red fox.

The video call may have not fully connected on Goatson's end but it had on Big's, and he watched as the fox slammed his friend's head into the desk repeatedly before taking out a curved blade and putting it through the monitor. Big also noticed the obvious bullet hole in his friend's shoulder as well. Whoever this fox was he was indeed a professional hearing what Robert had found at the shop but Big was not worried because he had the upper paw, he had the fox's face. The fox may have been quick in destroying the computer but not before Big got a good look and an image of the fox. The fox's fur was a deeper shade of red, it had blue eyes, lightish brown paws, it was also quite large for its species and there was a very distinctive scar on the left side of the tod's neck, plenty enough to find him.

Big pointed to the computer screen and said to Demetri "Wolfgang I want you to take your three best mammals and find this fox. When you do don't harm him or kill him, disarm him of the weapons he will undoubtedly be carrying, bag his head, then bring him to the restaurant. Sit him at the table where I first met Billy, then we will see if the fox will talk. Whether his does or not after I am done speaking shoot him in the head. Now grab your mammals and get out, I don't want to see your tail or hear from you until you have him in the back of a Limousine. Now go."

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack felt good. He had finally gotten to kill one of the mammals that killed his parents and left him for dead, and the leader of that little group, the one that had plunged the knife into his mother as he and his father watched. He made him suffer before deciding to end his life, he would have continued but Jack figured Big would be sending some mammals over and he wasn't to keen on having to kill them and make a mob boss of a powerful crime family an enemy. So yes Jack felt good, but this whole thing just got a million times more complicated. It wasn't just a gang Goatson was a part of but a extremist group with thousands of members and three heads of power, that definitely put a wrench in his plans. He'd have to shelf Stage One and move straight to Stage Two, he would need Bogo's help more than originally planned, and clue him in on what's going on more than Jack would like.

He would go ahead and send Bogo all the evidence from Honorhall first thing in the morning. He had all the evidence the whole time after he had left Honorhall but kept it waiting for the right moment to use it. Honorhall had video camaras everywhere but not one ever caught the headmistress beating him, she was smart and used all the blind spots to do it. But she wasn't that smart, because she forgot about the audio. The cameras picked up all the audio on all of his beatings and Sparrowtail's murder. She also wasn't smart enough to dispose of the data containing the videos from those specific times or Sparrowtail's file, so the night he left he made a little pit stop and collected all of it before visiting Sparrowtail one last time. One thing the cameras did catch was every single beating he took from the other children. Sure only a few were old enough to be arrested for it but as long as they were he didn't really care.

So when Jack learned his tech skills he isolated all of the audios of his beatings from the headmistress and the murder and enhanced them ten fold. He also typed and recorded his testimony and recounted every single detail about his time at Honorhall. The evidence was solid, concrete, and impossible to discredit. Jack also included the exact whereabouts of where Sparrowtail was buried along with Sparrowtail's file to prove that he indeed was an orphan there, as well as including videos highlighting him. He also included an audio file of him warning Bogo to not include Ironsides and to be vary of him. If Bogo did nothing with all of this Jack would of course go to plan B, but he suspected it wouldn't be necessary.

What Jack decided to leave out was everything he had just learned, that required meeting Bogo in the flesh he believed. He wanted to look Bogo in the eyes and see his reaction, and tell him everything. Jack would also give Bogo the audio recording of Goatson's confession and all the details he gave up except of course for the part regarding the Corleone family, he'd save that as a backup plan on the off chance that Big discovered it was him that killed Goatson and found him. With his game plan set Jack focused on driving back to the "library."

20 minutes later Jack pulled up in front of his headquarters and shut off the car. He then popped the trunk, got out, went to the trunk, and grabbed the bag containing the bloody clothes. He shut the trunk and locked the car before unlocking and entered the "library." David was asleep on the couch situated in the middle of the place snoring, Jack chuckled and walked over to the couch thinking about how to wake David up. Deciding on playful Jack walked behind the couch and promptly tipped it over dumping David onto the floor.

David hit the floor with a thud and woke up startled and spluttering "who what when where! What the!" Hearing laughter David turned his head and took note of Jack laughing at him. Quickly piecing things together David ground out "you red furred bastard I oughta shave your tail! Ever heard of the saying don't provoke the sleeping Badger!" Jack now only chuckling got out between chuckles "I'm pretty sure it's don't provoke thesleeping Bear you crotchety old bagder!" "Hey! I'm not old!" Was David's quick reply. Jack began laughing harder and breathed out "so you at least admit you're crotchety!" David narrowed his eyes at Jack and said "I didn't, fine! Maybe I am a little crotchety! There, happy now?" Jack smirked and simply relied "very."

Helping David to his feet Jack then righted the couch before flopping onto it and sighing. David took a seat next to him and said "well NightOwl, it would seem you're in a good mood. You haven't tipped me off the couch like that in years, so I take it everything went well?" Looking over at David Jack replied "yes. Billy Goatson is now dead and I have the names of the mammals that were with him that day. But there's a problem, he also reveled what the blue dots mean and to say it complicates things might be an understatement."

Jack spent the next 30 minutes recounting everything that happened as well as having David listen to the recording. After it all was done David had a very contemplative look on his face before saying "well shit. You weren't kidding...Ironsides though, him being a part of the Prey Supremacy Society isn't that suprising given his actions. But it does put a wrench in stages One and Three with him being one of the leaders. Hell the whole damn thing makes this complicated...So NightOwl, what's the plan?" Jack shook his head a little then replied "we'll Stage One needs to be shelfed, my revenge can wait this on the other hand can not. The Prey Supremacy Society has been planting themselves into places of power, helping prey get away with murder and the outright subjecation of predators is their end goal. They need to be stopped, so I'm pushing Stage Two forward and sending the evidence to Bogo first thing in the morning. Once I see the headmistress get led out in cuffs I will finish Stage One and leap straight into Three after a week or so, knocking out Ironsides will cripple the PSS and will lead an emergency meeting to be held, I'll find out where the meeting is and pay a visit and thin their ranks as much as possible. Then let the ZPD hunt the rest."

 _*Perspective shift, the next day*_

"Hey Sarge got a package that just arrived for you." Adonis Bogo looked up from the report he was writing and took the package before thanking the officer tha delivered it to him. "Thank you for bringing me this Clawhauser. Is there anything else?" Clawhauser just shook his head before exiting Bogo's office and sprinting away, Bogo snorted in exasperation at this because he was worried about the rookie. Benjamin Clawhauser was only in his first month as an officer and way to gung-ho for Bogo's liking, if Clawhauser didn't tone it down he might just get himself or another officer seriously injured or killed. Snorting and shaking his head Bogo turned his attention to the package in his hooves, he opened it and emptied its contents onto his desk. There were several dvds and flash drives all labeled and a file from Honorhall Orphange it seemed, picking up the file Bogo prepared to open it when he noticed it had been on top of another flash drive labeled "for your ears only Sargent Bogo."

Bogo's eyes burned with pure fury as the final recording ended. What he had just listened to was, beyond wrong and terrible. It was the one where Jack gave his testimony about everything that had happened to him and the murder of James Sparrowtail. Bogo like most mammals may not have been the biggest fan of foxes but NO mammal, especially a child, should have gone through all of that. The kits testimony was incredibly detailed and backed up everything Bogo had just watched and listened to, and corroborated exactly with the written testimony.

Bogo quickly stood, picked up his phone, and dialed a number. "Hello Officer Benjamin Clawhauser speaking! How may I assist you to...oh sorry Sargent! I didn't look at the caller I.D until just now! Anyways what do you need!?" "Clawhauser! I need you to get officers Higgins, McHorn, Wolfard, Hannamar, Galloway, and Spottedtale! Then get yourself and their collective asses to Conference Room C! I will join you in 15 minutes." ... "Yes sir right away! Has there been a break in the case we've been working?" Bogo looked over to his computer where he had reeled back and frozen the image of when Jack was showing the scars on his back and gripped his phone so tight the screen began to crack before replying "no, this is a new case, a much more important one. Now get moving!" He then hung up the phone by hitting the end call button so hard the entire screen shattered.

Once Bogo hung up the call he went ahead and printed enough copies of everything for the team he had been working with for his current case. After that was done he collected the flash drives and his laptop and made his way to Conference Room C. Walking he surveyed the team he had been assigned, Rookie Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, Rookie Officer Jeffery Higgins, Officer James Wolfard, Rhino Officers Dwayne McHorn and John Hannamar, Lion Officer Marcus Galloway, and Hyena Officer Derek Spottedtale. Bogo distributed the copies of the file and then began filling in the team.

Once he had told and shown the team everything including the mystery mammals warning about Cheif Ironsides they were instantly on board. Bogo called Child Services using McHorn's phone after the briefing was over and filled them in on the situation as well, once he was done they told Bogo that effective immediately Honorhall Orphanage would be shut down and they would have their mammals at the Orphange in an hour to shut it down and take what children that weren't being arrested to other orphanages. They also sent over their file on the headmistress there Havani Grelod. Once he finished speaking with them he got ready to mobilize with his team.

 _*An hour and a half later*_

Honorhall Orphange was a buzz of activity, Child Services mammals were everywhere trying to get all the children sorted and loaded upbb to their new orphanages, at least the ones not being escorted to waiting police cruisers. Meanwhile Havani Grelod was being led off to a cruiser as well by Clawhauser while he read her rights to her and the charges she was being arrested for: 2 counts of Child Neglect, 27 counts of Child Abuse, 1 count Malicious Wounding of a Minor, and one count of First Degree Murder, all of them felonies in the Municipal State of Zootopia.

Bogo was currently with mammalcide detectives and forensics teams and at the supposed burial site of James Sparrowtail. True to Jack Hunter's word James was indeed there buried and watched as the body was carted off to a ambulance to be taken to the morgue for an official autopsy. Once the body was loaded up Bogo went ahead and walked back towards the now former orphanage. Once he made it all the way back he took note that the rabid media had already descended on the place, and he also noticed a very angry Cheif Ironsides making his way towards him. Bogo was reprimanded for not brining this to Ironsides attention and assigned a whole week of parking duty but Bogo didn't mind one bit because he had done a good thing today, and he hoped wherever Jack Hunter was, that he was safe and could rest easier now that justice was had for him and the rabbit who tried to protect him.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack couldn't feel happier. The orphanage was being shut down, Grelod was arrested, those children who beat him that were old enough also arrested, and they had found James Sparrowtail's body and taken it away. It brought a rare genuine smile to Jack's face, he looked up into the sky and said "rest easy now James, they got you now, and they got her. Rest easy."

Once Jack had returned to the "library" he collected his weapons and set out to finish his revenge. He spent the next week finding and killing the rest of the mammals that killed his parents. He had targeted Brandon Ramses first, he killed him in his apartment after recording his confession and any information he could give on the Prey Supremacy Society. He then targeted the Horncove brothers, capturing them while they were walking home from a bar and taking them to an abandoned garage and repeated the process of recording before killing them. Next were the deer, and as it turns out they were secretly "partners" and had caught them both at Vladez's home; Jack once again repeated the process and then killed them both as well. As he had did with Goatson, he killed all the rest by slitting their throats as well.

He then crossed out everything that he already knew due to Goatson and added the rest to the files he was going to give to Bogo. Except for one item. Ramses had given him the location of where the emergency meeting was to be held in the case that one of the leaders was either arrested or killed, an abandoned warehouse in the Canals District. Of course as Jack carved through those that killed his parents the ZPD found their bodies, and promptly named it the work of a serial killer much to Jack's ire. For nothing was mentioned about the blue dots on all of their necks, probably the work of Ironsides and the PSS members they had seeded in the media.

Another thing that vexed Jack was the fact that they hadn't found Goatson's body, and when he returned to the flower shop where he killed him he was suprised to find a charred husk of a building before leaving. But he couldn't muse on it any more as a limousine pulled up behind him and before he could act he was tranqed and a bag thrown over his head before being thrown into the limousine and it screeching off. For the first time in awhile someone had gotten the drop on him.

Jack was still conscious as the limousine drove, what the mammals that took him didn't know was that Jack had built up a resistance to tranquilizers but was not completely immune yet, he could still move but his senses were fogged and reflexes slowed. He subtly took in the scents of the limo and the mammals inside with him and immediately knew they were Big's mammals. He could smell the shrew on one of them and they were all wolves. It was confirmed when that same mammal called him. "Mr. Big sir, we got him...yes sir alive we are bringing him to you now...to be honest sir we found him completely on accident. Tony pointed him out walking by us a ways coming from the direction of Billy's shop, a big red fox wearing an all black suit with blue eyes and a scar on the left side of his neck...yes sir...yes...we are searching him now." When the wolf said this Jack finally noticed that he was indeed being searched and disarmed. They took both his pistols, His Karambit, asp baton, phone, and his wallet before stopping. They didn't take his hidden blades on his wrists or a pen he had in one of his jacket pockets, once they were done searching him the Wolf continued speaking to Big.

"Ok sir we just finished searching him and he was packing some serious heat. Two handguns, a collapsible baton, and that knife we saw in the call. We also got his phone and wallet...yes sir...it says his name is James Dapper, age 22...yes sir see you at the restaurant, goodbye." Jack internally groaned and began thinking. _"Shit shit shit shit shit. Fuck! Motherfucking fucks of fucking fucks in fucking fuckerland! FUCK! I can't believe it. That damn video call must have connected on Big's end before I destroyed that damn computer! Shit! This complicates everything! And I was stupid enough to let it happen! Ok, calm down Jack. Yes this makes things more complicated but you can burn this identity no problem, you'll also have to burn the library too but what else can I do? I can't risk them following me there...ok so I still have the blades in my shoes as well as the hidden blades and their Derringers on my wrists..and this pen in my jacket pocket...I'll use a show of force in front of Big to maybe deter him from perusing me and then escape."_ With Jack's thoughts sorted and plan set he just waited to arrive at Big's Place.

45 minutes later they arrived at Big's Place Restaurant in Tundratown after swapping to an SUV about halfway through. The tranquilizer had already worn off fully leaving Jack fully alert again, he took note that other than the black bag on his head he was not restrained in any way. The wolves grabbed him and took him inside, and as soon as they entered Jack took in the scents of the building. There were a lot of fresh scents but he could tell that the only mammals currently there were him, the four wolves, and Mr. Big himself. The wolves took him towards the center of the restaurant and sat him in a chair facing Big while the one who called Big went and stood behind him and two sat to Jack's sides. The final wolf was waved off by Big with "Go and watch the door Tony. I closed the place but some mammals are stubborn, deter any that arrive and come only if needed or called." Jack heard the wolf acknowledge Big and then move to the front entrance.

He then heard Big shift to the Wolf behind him and said "meh, Demetri go fill up a bucket with cold water and then wake this fox up so we may get down to business." Before the wolf Jack now knew was Demetri Wolfgang could move a muscle Jack said "I'm quite awake already. So that won't be necessary." Jack then undid the strings to the bag and took it off his head, he then observed everyone's shock at the turn of events. Quickly sweeping his head around he took a good look at everyone and noted his effects were on the table by Big, Tony had shifted more away from the door at hearing him awake, and then took in every mammals identities and going through his mental database pulled up the information he needed for this next part and finally opened his mouth to speak.

But before he spoke Jack reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the pen, took of the cap, placed the pen on the table and said "if at any point any of you try to kill me I will make this pen disappear" while flourishing his hands. Then he spoke. "First where we are is at your restaurant, or should I say one of your many fronts Mr. Big, a.k.a Gerald Corleone, 38. Immigrant from Italia and current and new head of the Corleone crime family. You are joined by Jerome Mininski who is on my left, Maurice Levatto who his on my right, behind me is Tony Coponzo and behind you is one of your right hand mammals Demetri Wolfgang. My name is James Dapper and yes I tortured and killed your friend Billy Goatson, who was the families florist and money launderer. Any questions?"

As Jack spoke Mr. Big's bushy eyebrows rose more and more until his eyes were fully exposed, once Jack was finished speaking Big spoke in return. "Meh. Well I see you are well informed Mr. Dapper, I'm impressed. I only have two questions. Who hired you and why did they have you kill Billy?" Jack nodded at this and responded "no one hired me. I work for no one, not a single one of your rivals approached me wanting to target memebers of the Corleone crime family. I acted on my own of my own will. Billy crossed me and had to die, him working for you had nothing to do with it." Mr. Big nodded in return before leaning forward in his tiny chair and said "meh. I don't believe you... I see we are going to get nowhere with this so one of you shoot him in the head."

Jack reacted instantly. Before anyone could do something Jack shot his left paw forward and grabbed the pen and stabbed it point first into the table in front of Jerome, then grabbed the back of Jerome's head and slammed it into the table. The pen punctured the middle of Jerome's throat going halfway in, Jack then lifted Jerome back up off the table and into his chair then yanked the pen out of his throat. Jerome shot his hands up to his throat to try and stem the blood that was gushing from it. As soon as Jack yanked the pen out he shot his right paw out and chopped Maurice's throat, quickly stabbed Maurice in the abdomen once, slammed his head into the table dazing him then Jack went under quickly stabbing him in the abdomen a second time. While this was happening Demetri scooped up Big and his tiny chair and backed away from the table as they both watched Jack work.

Jack then stood and turned to face Tony who was rushing him while pulling a handgun from his jacket. Jack rushed to meet Tony and moved Tony's right arm out of the way as it came out with the handgun, then he stabbed the pen halfway into Tony's left abdomen. Tony howled out in pain and Jack jumped back and shot his left foot out kicking the pen all but an inch into Tony's abdomen and when he doubled over clutching where he was stabbed Jack rushed forward again and twisted him around, wrapping his left arm around Tony's neck. Tony was now hunched over backwards the back of his head resting on Jack's right shoulder, and while looking Mr. Big directly in the eyes he then snapped Tony's neck.

Jack let Tony drop into a crumpled heap and then turned and yanked the pen out of Tony before turning back and facing Maurice. Maurice had fallen out of his seat and onto his knees facing Jack, he was still dazed and choking from the throat chop looking at Jack through teary eyes. Jack calmy walked up to Maurice's keeled over form and promptly jabbed the pen into the right side of his neck and then realesed it, grabbed the left side of Maurice's head, pulled him to the side a little so he was leaning more left. Then with all the strength Jack had he slammed Maurice's neck and the pen into one of the table's legs driving the pen all the way into his throat and snapping Maurice's neck simultaneously before letting him drop to the floor.

He did all of it in about 30 seconds. Jack then looked to Demetri and Mr. Big and said "Tada! *he flourishes his paws again* it's gone!" Jack then walked to the side of the table where his things were and returned everything but his P30L to their rightful places before scooping up his gun and saying "I told you I would make the pen disappear, I wasn't joking. Now, Demetri reach into your right pocket and give me the car keys." Demetri slowly reached into his pockets and retrieved the keys tossing them over to Jack that caught them one pawed. "Thank you Demetri. Now I have to go, places to go and all that. So it was a pleasure Mr. Big, and a parting word of advice. I just killed three of your mammals with a pen, a PEN. Imagine what I could do with a gun. Think about that before you try hunting me down again." Jack then speedily backed out of the restaurant.

 _*Ten minutes later*_

Jack was driving the "borrowed" SUV like a mammal possessed. He was on his way to the secondary headquarters (which was really an abandoned warehouse) inside the Rainforest district, he would ditch and burn the SUV when he was halfway there and "borrow" another veichle to get the rest of the way there. Pulling out his phone while drifting a turn he dialed David who picked up on the second ring. "Jack where the hell you been! You went out of contact two hours ago!" Taking another sharp turn by drift Jack belted out "First it's NightOwl! Second burn James Dapper!" ... "Okay burning Dapper now." ... "Good! Now go to the disguise area I have five IDs out on the table read them off!" ... "okay we got a red fox named Harry Severin." ... "no, in fact no red foxes at all this time, new species." ... "ok that leaves a grey wolf named Marcus Oliver and an Arctic fox named Bandit Whitemaw." Shuddering at the thought of messing with his tail Jack quickly replied "one arctic fox named Bandit Whitemaw sold!" ... "ok done Bandit, gods that's a terrible name for a fox, and there's a black band of fur going right over the eyes! Jeez stereotypical much?" ... "David focus! I need you to grab everything we've recently gathered and all of my gear! My M416 is in the trunk of the car under a false panel! Once you've gathered it all burn the library and the car then get your ass to the secondary position!" ... "why what happened!?" Grinding his teeth a little Jack growled out "Big and his goons found me, guess that damn call connected at their end before I ended it." ... "shit, got it. I'll set the incendiary charges and then meet you at the secondary position, out." Jack hung up the phone and focused on driving.

 _*Perspective shift plus three days later*_

Bogo pulled into the driveway of his home and sighed at another work day completed, he very much looked forward to the glass of bourbon he was about to pour when he got inside. Entering his modest sized house and closing the door Bogo flicked the light switch on...only for nothing to happen. Bogo tried again several more times and even attempted different light switches before groaning, the power was out. He was about to go to where the fuse box was when a voice called out "the power won't turn on unless I tell it to Bogo, and you know for a cop you're not very perceptive." Bogo's eyes widened in shock and he went to pull his 300L Magnum when the voice called out again from what seemed like everywhere. "Ah ah ah. I wouldn't to that if I were you Bogo. It's dark and you don't know where I am, I have night vision and you don't. You'd never hit me. So holster that cannon of yours and relax, better yet put it on that table by the door along with your tranquilizer. If I wanted you dead I would have shot you in the head already. So come sit down and enjoy that glass of bourbon like you do every night after work."

Bogo was hesitant but whoever and wherever this mammal was they had him dead to rights. So Bogo reluctantly unholstered both his revolver and traqulizer and did what the mammal asked putting them on the table by the door before hesitantly walking towards the kitchen. The instant he got to the island in the kitchen a glass full of bourbon came sliding across it from out of the darkness. Bogo grabbed it by reflex with his hoove and tentatively sniffed the glasss contents, the voice broke through the silence again saying "really!? I'm drinking from the same damn bottle! As I said when you first walked in if I wanted you dead I would have already shot you in the head! Now relax!"

Bogo didn't know why but he felt he could trust the voice so he took a sip of the bourbon and sighed contently as the liquid went down his throat. "See Bogo? No poison, just good bourbon." This time when the mammal spoke it didn't sound like it was coming from everywhere but just down the island where three barstools sat. At the middle barstool a flame from a match ignited illuminating the figures white paw and black suit, as the match moved up it was brought to a cigarette in the mystery mammals mouth. When the match reached the mammals face it was reveled to Bogo that the mystery mammal was an arctic fox with a black band of fur going over its eyes.

Bogo's eyes widened in surprise before the arctic fox simply flicked its wrist and the match went out. Bogo watched for the movement of the dimly lit cigarette but could not find it at the barstool when suddenly a lamp turned on in the living room fully illuminating the arctic fox siting in an armchair in the corner smoking a cigarette. Bogo was tempted to ask the fox to put it out but chose to say nothing. The fox said nothing but simply gesutured to Bogo's recliner, Bogo moved over to it and sat down and they sat in silence drinking with Bogo occasionally glancing at the fox. Once Bogo's glass was empty only then did the fox speak. "I bet you're wondering why I'm here Bogo. Well I'm here about Jack Hunter and your current chief Henry Ironsides. You see I was the one that sent you all of that information on Honorhall per Jack's request, he's quite alright in case you're wondering. Anyways I'm here to thank you for doing the right thing and to also give you these." The fox then pulled out a package identical to the one Bogo received the week and a half prior and handed it to Bogo.

The arctic fox then explained everthying that the package contained including evidence on Ironsides corruption and all the intel on the Prey Supremacy Society. Bogo listned intently to every word that the fox said, currently the arctic tod was explaining the last bit of evidence to Bogo. "This flash drive here contains audio recorded confessions of members of the PSS. Billy Goatson, Brandon Ramses, Bob and Steve Horncove, Michael Vladez, and finally Tony Venison. their confessions are to not only being members of the PSS, but the murders of Katherine and James Hunter and the attempted mammalcide of Jack Hunter. In the very same recordings are them giving all the intel on the PSS they have. I already took the liberty of omitting anything that was repeated during each recording. These recordings also testify against Ironsides and his corruption and affiliation with the PSS, this coupled with the other evidence should be more than enough to arrest him, so any questions?"

Bogo kept a shell shocked expression the entire time the arctic fox was explaining all of this and when he was finished Bogo had many questions but two were at the forefront of his thoughts. "First question Fox, you said you gathered this information and gave the information on Honorhall to me. So then do you know where Jack Hunter is? Is he safe?" The artic tod smiled warmly at Bogo and replied "you got a heart that's for sure. Yes Jack is safe. He's in me and my groups care, and he saw what you did at Honorhall. It was the happiest I'd ever seen him in a long time, he told me to express his graditude." Bogo internally thanked whatever gods were listening that Jack was safe and then pushed the darker question forward. "My next question is how exactly did you come by these confessions? Those mammals you named were all found dead with varying degrees of torture, except for Billy Goatson, and it was believed to be the work of a new serial killer. So is that you?"

The tod nodded a couple times before answering. "Yes I, hmm, _extracted_ those confessions out of them. They should still hold up in court regardless. Besides they were members of the PSS and I told you what kind of group they were, plus they were the ones that murdered Jack's parents! I'm no serial killer, I was just getting the Justice that was robbed from Jack. As for Billy I actually don't know what happened, when I left I didn't torch his shop. Now what are the rest of your questions?"

Once Bogo got the rest of his questions out of the way and answered the Arctic tod layed out a plan. "Ok Sargent Bogo, your Chief Ironsides is holding a press conference in 48 hours to address the new serial killer. *the fox makes air quotation marks* This is a fear mongering campaign cooked up by the leaders of the PSS, they are gonna use Ironsides and their agents in the media and ZBI to paint a picture of a predator serial killer targeting all prey and spin it in a way to make every single prey in this city wary and fearful of every predator. What your going to do is wait until the conference starts and when Ironsides starts the mongering you step up and arrest him and any of the PSS members there, recruit only mammals YOU trust to help you. Once you cuff him you will give your own press conference exposing the Prey Supremacy Society and calling that the killer is really part of a resistance against the PSS made up of predators AND prey. This should completely shut down the PSS's attempt. Once you finish the press conference mobilize the ZPD to arrest the PSS mammals listed in the tapes, this should cripple them and maybe even wipe them out. I'm going to give you a number to call me after you mobilize the ZPD, alert me of the progress." Once the fox finished laying out the plan he promptly stood up and left, once he shut the front door the power in Bogo's home came back on.

 _*Perspective shift plus 48 hours later*_

Jack watched from a television in his secondary headquarters as Bogo gave his own press conference exposing the PSS and reassuring the public that unless you were a member of the Prey Supremacy Society you had nothing to fear. The conference was about fifteen minutes in already and Henry Ironsides, several reporters, and two ZBI agents had already been arrested and led off in cuffs. Jack smiled recalling Ironsides look of shock and outrage as he was arrested on: Corruption, falsifying evidence, accessories to muder and attempted murder, accessories to child neglect and abuse, inciting violence, inciting discrimination, leading a violent extremist group, conspiracy to overthrow the government, and terrorism charges.

Jack would have been there in the flesh but he had more important matters than his revenge to take care of, and that was preparing for dropping in on the PSS's emergency meeting now that one of thier leaders had been arrested and their entire organization exposed. He had left the meeting out of the evidence he gave Bogo because technically since the Prey Supremacy Society itself had not been labeled a terrorist organization yet the ZPD couldn't arrest any of the mammals unless they had evidence the mammals committed crimes. So Jack would take care of every single mammal present at the meeting himself.

He was gearing himself up in full tacitcal gear. Wearing all black with a Kevlar vest and a Ballistic mask to protect and cover his face (which was up at the moment.) Jack had loaded all of his large mammal ammunition into every magazine he had, six 556L 50 round capitcity mags for is M416 and a 556L 100 round beta mag was currently loaded. The 50 round mags were paired in twos and connected with Dual Mag attachments and were sitting on the left abdomen portion of his vest. For his P30L he had six additional 15 9Lmm round magazines loaded and in a pouch straped to his left thigh with the gun itself resting in a holster on his right thigh. He had his Glock 26 in its holster in the small of his back with only two additional magazines attached to the holster itself and his Karambit was in its sheathe right below it. Jack had also had David procure a flash bang grenade meant for a Hippo to use, it was huge and he could barely fit his paw around the pin but it would do its job in blinding the mammals at the meeting so Jack could go to work and it rested in a small black bag slung on his right shoulder.

David of course had begged Jack not to do this and let time run its course for the PSS to be labeled as a terrorist group but Jack had listened to none of it snapping at David, "NO! I WILL NOT ALLOW THESE MAMMALS TO ROAM FREE! IF KILLING THEM PREVENTS A SINGLE MAMMAL FROM EXPERIENCING WHAT I WENT THROUGH THAN IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT! MY LIFE AND SOUL WERE TAKEN FROM ME ALREADY! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN TO ANOTHER AS LONG AS I STILL BREATHE! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT DAVID! I DON'T CARE IF I AM REALLY TWELVE BECAUSE TO THE WORLD I AM AN ADULT AND I MIGHT AS WELL BE ONE!... It doesn't matter if you still see a little kit when you look at me because that's not what I am anymore, that's something I'm not aloud to be. If just one, one! If just one kit can be saved from a fate like mine then I would kill a thousand mammals, let alone a hundred give or take that deserve it..." Once Jack had finished exploding at him David Badgerton got up, grabbed his things, and quietly left with tears pricking at his eyes. It would be the last time Jack saw or spoke to him.

Once Jack checked and double checked that he had everything he exited the building and got in his new blacked out sedan, started it, and made his way towards the meeting at the abandoned warehouse in the Canals District. After the 45 minute drive Jack parked his car several blocks from the warehouse and surveyed his surroundings. It was easy to spot the warehouse as it was part of a trio of abandoned warehouses and it was the only one with the lights still on and one on the right. He also noted at the top each warehouse was connected by a metal platform and decided that it would be his entry point, it would give him perfect line of site into the crowd of mammals and allow him to dump the flash bang right in the middle. He also saw by looking down a set of binoculars that there were two rams currently up on the platform he planned on using but was concerned little, his P30L would dispose of them quietly enough to not alarm the rest. With his plan set Jack exited his veichle and began briskly moving towards the warehouse while in a crouched position.

Once he entered the middle warehouse undetected he quickly moved to the stairs and ascended them. Once he reached the top he moved to the door that seperated warehouse from platform and put his mask down. Standing up and opening the door while drawing his P30L he was met by the closest ram staring at him mouth agape, and before it could say anything Jack raised his pistol and put a round between its eyes and it dropped to the platform. The second ram turned around at the noises and when it saw Jack it belted out "what the fuck!" Before fumbling for a pistol in its waist holster. Jack double tapped that ram dropping it to the platform before walking over both corpses towards the other door.

Before Jack could open the other door though a yak opened it from the other side and noticed Jack instantly. Jack quickly shot the yak in it's right knee causing it to stumble forward and before it could yell out Jack snapped its neck before laying it slowly to the platoform and then dragging the body outside. Once it was dragged fully outside Jack entered the warehouse and looked to his right and left, after confirming no one else was on the inside platform Jack walked up to the railing and took in the scene below. There were about ninety mammals on the floor of the warehouse facing a makeshift stage and on the makeshift stage was ten more mammals. Listening into the conversation he deschipered that the ten on the stage were ranking lieutenants all vying for the now open position on leadership left by Ironsides arrest. Jack quickly decided they were first. Holstering his 930L Jack took the bag containing the flash bang off his shoulder and took it out, pulled the pin, and hefted it over the railing and sending it plummeting towards the middle of the crowd. It hit the ground right in between a giraffe and a hippo, the giraffe managed to get out "what the" before it detonated and all hell broke lose.

After Jack had dropped it down he had rushed back outside, shut the door and after seeing the flash from under it he unclipped his M416 from his vest and re-entered the warehouse. Jack raised his rifle and fired it full automatic in a sweeping motion across the mammals on the stage back and forth peppering all of them. Then Jack shifted to the right and began spraying down all of the mammals closest to and trying to exit the warehouse effectively blocking it before shifting again. He repeated the sweeping motions across the whole warehouse floor until his M416 was out of ammunition, once it was he just tossed it over the railing before unholsereing his P30L and making his way down the stairs.

Once he reached the bottom he began working through the warehouse shooting every single mammal in the head to assure that there were no survivors. He kept this up until his P30L was empty and no spare mags remaining before chucking it to the floor as well. He then continued walking around steping on and over bodies checking just to make sure there wasn't any mammals left alive. Once he reached the exit to the warehouse he moved the necessary mammals out of the way revealing a few that weren't shot in the head. Jack drew the Glock 26 and swiftly emptied all three magazines and then dropped it before shifting the rest of the mammals out of the way and exiting. He did all of this in just over 10 minutes.

 _*Two hours later*_

Jack was dressed casually watching the news. They were still reporting on the "Warehouse Massacare" and only recently came out that all the mammals inside were members of the Prey Supremacy Society, the reporter Peter Moosenbridge stating "It would appear Sargent Adonis Bogo was true to his word earlier today when he said a resistance existed that was taking the fight to the until today previously unknown extremist group the Prey Supremacy Society. Details are now coming in that inside the warehouse were flags bearing the symbol of the PSS and bodies were being discovered to have the symbol dyed into their fur. This confirms the fact that this is no serial killer but a group of mammals fighting in a shadowy war, we here at ZNN will keep you informed. This is Peter Moosenbridge signing off."

As the reporter ended his well, report, Jack's attention was brought to his phone as it was ringing, picking it up he answered. "Bogo, it took you long enough to call." ... *snort* "well I have been busy arresting lawyers, attorneys, reporters, jailers, judges, deputies, the fucking DA himself! Some officers, a few more members of city council, and several other figureheads in city hall including the mayor's secretary who was trying to knife her when I arrived. Not to mention cleaning up what I can only assume was your groups doing." Jack chuckled a little and replied "yeah the cities really gonna turn on its head with this one. Not to mention be in chaos for awhile while new everything it seems is appointed. But it should be for the better, not to mention how much busier you will be when the PSS gets declared a terroist group. Oh and yes the warehouse was us."

*sighs* "well Fox you're right the cities gone tits up. But what's been accomplished today in not a bad thing but a great one, let the city stew in some chaos I say. It'll get mammals off their asses and start to change the city again! This will improve the city even more then when I arrested the mayor and half of city council four years ago! *sighs* "but there is one problem Fox." At that Jack sat up straighter and allowed his hackles to raise and tail puff out a little before replying "and just what is the problem Sargent?" ..."about declaring the Prey Supremacy Society a terrorist group, its been rejected by the governor of Zootooia himself. He instead declared the group a gang, so unless we find evidence for each individual mammal we can't do anything. I don't know if he's incompetent or involved but regardless you CAN NOT go after him. One thing he did do was pardon your group for the warehouse massacre, so we aren't going to be hunting you, but if you go after him all bets are off."

Jack dropped the phone, cursed up and storm and flipped the nearest table which luckily had nothing on it before scooping the phone back up. After a pause Jack ground out with a growl in his voice "sorry bout that, I'm back. So you're telling me the PSS is now labeled a gang instead of a terroist organization and my group can't go after the governer to get an explanation. You're also telling me that my group technically can't hunt them either or the governor will sick you and the ZPD on us?" ... "and the ZBI." Jack slapped a paw to his face and dragged it down before replying "and the ZBI. Great, just fucking fantastic! So that's what your telling me!?" ... "yes Fox, and I'm sorry. So what are you going to do now?" Jack weighed the options inside his head before settling on something incredibly stupid and replying "I'm going to make a deal with the devil."

 _*Three days later*_

Jack stood just outside across the street from the Corelone Mansion. He was still disguised as the arctic fox Bandit Whitemaw and dressed in an all black suit again. He didn't wear his hidden blades instead they were hidden in hollowed out compartments in Jack's shoes, he'd retrieve them from their hiding places once inside. Jack had scheduled a meeting with Mr. Big under the premises that he was interested in "investing" in the Corelone family business and Big has accepted the meeting.

Jack began walking towards the gate and was instantly stopped by two wolves who proceeded to check his identity and search him for weapons, once satisfied the called into the house and Demerti Wolfgang came out to greet Jack. "Mr. Whitemaw it's a pleasure to meet you." Jack reached his hand out and shook the wolf's before following him inside. Once inside a ways Jack asked Demetri if he could be directed to a restroom before meeting Mr. Big, Demetri showed him to the nearest bathroom and once inside Jack relieved himself before popping of his shoes and retrieving his hidden blades before returning his shoes to his feet.

Jack washed his paws then quickly attached the blades and their Derringers to his wrists before exiting the bathroom and following Demetri again. Demetri led him down a hallway and stopped by a single door before opening it, inside was a huge desk and a secondary door to the right of it. Demetri told Jack "wait here" and went into the other door, when that door closed the door behind Jack opened and two wolves entered each taking a corner to the right and left of Jack. After about another minute the side door opened and Demetri re-enetered holding Big sitting in his tiny chair and placed them both on the giant desk, once Big was situated he spoke. "Meh, welcome to my home Mr. Whitmaw. I hear your interested in investing in the family business is this true?" Jack cleared his throat and stepped forward and speaking in James Dapper's voice he said "Not exactly Mr. Big, you see I'm actually interested in helping you invest in your families future." When Big heard Jack speak his bushy eyebrows raised at the similarity to Dapper's but looking closer at the large arctic fox Big spotted the scar on the left side of it's neck. Once Mr. Big realized this arctic fox was actually James Dapper Big screamed out "Shit it's that son of a bitch fox Dapper! He's in disguise shoot him!"

Jack once again reacted instantly. He activated the hidden blade on his left wrist and slashed the throat of the wolf on his left then activated the right blade and stabbed it into its chest pushing the wolf back before retracting it. Jack then turned and activated the QuickDraw mechanism of the left Derringer shooting it into his paw, as soon as the grip touched his pads he shot the wolf on the right in the head. The side door opened and a wolf rushed in handgun drawn, Jack simply shfited his arm and shot that wolf in the head too. Then while retracting the left Derringer he activated the right Derringer lifted it and shot Demetri in the shoulder as he was going for his gun. Jack then lowered the gun slightly and leveled it a Big's chest then yelled out "Big call off your dogs or the only thing left of you will be the wheels of your tiny chair!"

Several wolves burst through the door behind Jack but he paid them not mind he just kept his focus on Big. Big said nothing but simply waved them off before saying to Jack "well it would seem I underestimated you even more then I expected. Meh, since you haven't just killed me I take it you want something from me yes?" Jack nodded and replied "yes for now you to listen to me and your mammals to not shoot me if I holster this weapon. I would like to talk to you like civilized mammals without keeping you at gunpoint, and trust me you're going to want to hear what I have to say to you Mr. Big."

Mr. Big nodded and relied "meh, I will actuate your request. My mammals will do nothing to you if you put away that gun so we can speak. Right Demetri?" He said this last bit to Demetri who was clutching his shoulder, looking at Jack with narrowed eyes and growling, Demetri flinched a little, folded his ears back and shifted his tail a little between his legs before replying "yes we will not harm you Mr. Dapper, or is it really Mr. Whitemaw?" "For now and in the future just call me NightOwl or if you want to be formal Mr. NightOwl. I think it best of you don't know my true identity and I constantly switch fake identities as you can clearly see...I think you can leave us now Demetri and tend to your wound, sorry about that by the way, anyways there are three wolves right outside behind me if Mr. Big here needs help but he shouldn't unless he provokes me. Oh and Badgerton says hello." Was Jack's replying statement.

Demetri widened his eyes at the end of Jack's statement but before he could reply Big cut in. "Meh, Demetri Mr...NightOwl is right. Go tend to your wound and you Mr. NightOwl start talking." Demetri bowed slightly and left still clutching his shoulder and once the door shut Jack began speaking. "First I will tell you why I killed Billy Goatson. As I said before I did not kill him because of his ties to your family I killed him because he wronged me. You see he and five other mammals killed two foxes 8 years ago and burned down their home, they also tried to kill the foxes' son but he lived and I..found him. He killed them because he was told to by the leaders of the group he was a part of, if you had seen the news lately you would know what group I speak of, the Prey Supremacy Party. I killed him because of that and I killed the mammals he was with that day...when I was torturing him for information he revealed that him being friends with you and your family was a ploy, a plan to kill you and your successor and then take over the family. If you don't believe me I recorded the confession and will play it to you now."

Once the recording was done Big sat in silence thinking for a few minutes before speaking. "Meh, it would seem you are telling the truth. This is disturbing news to me, he was like family. But I suppose it was all smoke and mirrors to gain me and my families confidence...meh it is done I suppose, you are forgiven for killing him as it turns out he was an enemy...now something tells me this was not the only reason you sought me out in my own home correct?"

Jack nodded and began speaking again. "Yes it was not the only reason I came here. You see I am solely responsible for the Warehosue Massacare that was also in the news, I thinned the proverbial herd of the PSS and I had counted on them being declared a terroist organization for the ZPD and ZBI to be able to hunt the rest...but instead they were declared a gang so the authorities can do nothing unless they have evidence for every mammal. I am fighting a war alone and I just learned that my reinforcements aren't coming! The Prey Supremacy Society is a cancer that will destroy this city and subjugate its predators if they aren't controlled and destroyed, they crossed your family too so this is what I propose. Help me fight them by using your families contacts and reasources to locate memebers of their group, once you find them you capture them and bring them here for me to kill or call me and I go where they are and kill them it makes no difference to me. As long as they die, so Mr. Big will you help me fight them?"

Mr. Big was silent for several minutes before a smile that Jack did not like one bit crossed his face, he sat forward in his chair and then he spoke. "Fine Mr. NightOwl I will help you in your fight against the Prey Supremacy Society but on one condition, you become my assassin. I forgave you for killing Billy but what I have not forgiven is you killing six of my mammals, if you do not take this deal I will not help you and I will have you killed. That is my condition, take it or leave it."

It was Jack's turn to sit there in silence and think and once again weigh his options. After five minutes of thought Jack came to a conclusion and spoke. "Fine I accept these terms, my life was taken from me anyways. But I have some of my own." Mr. Big sat back in his chair and waved his paw before replying "meh, let us hear them and I will decide whether or not to grant them." ... "Firslty, I will need access to your armory, these two tiny things are the only guns I have left and if I'm becoming your assassin I will need guns. Secondly, I will only kill criminals, I will not kill a single innocent mammal just because they wronged you or some such, any mammal you send me to kill must be a criminal be it rival or some other criminal you just want dead. Thirdly, I want to be on payroll and payed well, as I said earlier Jack is in my care so I need to be able to provide for him plus if I'm putting my tail on the line I should be getting payed for it you helping me or not. I will also need access to all of the families reasources, contacts, and connections. Oh and there's one other thing, if you EVER refer to my mother as a bitch again I will kill you, your family, your mammals, and burn this mansion to the ground and not lose any sleep about it, got it?... So do you accept MY terms?" Big pondered this for a moment before replying "meh, everything you have just requested is not unreasonable at all... so deal. The wolves will take you to the armory." Jack bowed and turned to follow the wolves before hearing Mr. Big mutter something about getting better guards, pausing and turning Jack said "I have a suggestion about that...get bigger ones." Then he turned and left.

So this is how it went for the next five an a half years. Big would send him to kill rivals, common thugs, drug peddlers (Big had a hatered for drugs) any type of criminal he wanted dead. In exchange he paid Jack well and would find members of the Prey Supremacy Society and have his mammals capture them, bringing them to the mansion. Big's polar bears would sit the mammals in front of the pit in his office and Jack would enter and shoot them in the head causing them to fall into the icy water below. The polar bears would then cover the hole back up and Jack would exit, rinse and repeat.

Every time Jack would complete a contract he would burn the current identity he was using and adopt a new one, not a single mammal knew who he was or his name so he became known as The Reaper. But Jack had grown tired of it, tired of not being Jack Hunter, not being able to be himself and his own mammal, he wanted out. The Prey Supremacy Society was in shambles and Zootopia was in a better state then it had ever been. He had already helped Demetri Wolfgang leave the Corelone crime family during Jack's second year but it was time for him to leave as well. So he had gone to Big and Big had released him from his service no strings attached besides no longer tracking down PSS members, it had felt good, almost freeing. But at 17 Jack was only truly good at one thing, so he turned his sights to a nobeler path. He could not join the ZPD or ZBI because they based qualification on species...but the military didn't, they did it on height, and Jack met the height requirement... So he enlisted.

* * *

 _Done! My fingers hurt! I expected this to be double the length, but what I wasn't anticipating was it being over FOUR times the length! Looking back I probably should have added the first part of this to prologue part one but I was so anxious to get the story out so I jumped the gun. My bad... this is why I need beta readers! It also doesn't help that I'm doing all of this from my tablet because my computer committed suicide. (not joking.)_

 _anyways I had planned to include what the Easter eggs were in the prologue but I'm to tired so forget it, I might say them in the authors note in chapter one. But if you spotted them say em in the reviews and I'll tell you if ya got em right. Moving on._

 _For those of you thinking that I made Jack overpowered or some such you got to understand something. He spent literally SIX YEARS doing nothing but training, and he doesn't sleep... not to mention he has perfect memory retention. So he's actually not overpowered he's just right. Also if you think I made him too_ _big for a fox I actually added subtle clues explaining why, I'll let you try to figure it out. On to the next order of business._

 _You probably noticed that throughout this I added things that might make no sense for adding like the Kyoketsu-shoge. But trust me I did it_ _all on purpose so you're not confused later. Because I guarantee some of you looked it up after you saw it, see! be confused now so you're not later._

 _Finally, Bandit Whitemaw is the product and an OC of midnightopheliac and their story Safe Paws. Demetri Wolfgang is the product and an OC of Starfang's Secrets and thier story Embrace it. These OCs were used without permission (sorry!) if you wish for me to change them simply ask and I will do so immediately, I just wanted to pay homage to their (or if your reading this your) stories. Any other authors OC I use will be a minor OC and I will always give credit, also as I said if you wish for me not to use them *sad fox face* I will adhere to your wishes and change them as soon as I see the message._

 _Next time on A Father Figure! Jack returns from his memories and the story launches! Jack meets the Wildes and the epic journey officially begins! Stay tuned! This is TheConcernedF0X signing off! Until next time!_


	3. Chapter One: Improving Lives

Ok _here we go. The first official chapter of A Father Figure begins now!...well after this author note anyways._

 _Vince Fangway- DING DING DING! You are correct! I based early Jack on John Wick, choice of weapons, suit, etc. but with my own twists like killing three wolves in a restaurant...with a pen... a fu (you see where I'm going with this.)_

 _this SHOULD be much more like prologue part one in size but that can change._

 _oh and the firearms, if any of you are wondering most weapons will have the color they are and the paws they were designed for, like BlackWolf for instance. Black color, Wolf paw._

 _as I said Jack enlisted, I will tell you now that I am BASING Jack's deployments on real countries and areas but it will NOT be 100% accurate, this of a work of fiction after all. So don't get your panties in a twist if things never happened like that here in the real world yadda yadda yadda. I'm also basing the military on real military but stuff will NOT be super accurate for this either and will be BASED on as well, it's fiction remember._

 _This chapter will start out narrative to set the scene a little bit before kicking off._

 _Also I did not expect to get this many favs and follows this early in so I appreciate the support greatly._

 _Please read and review! Plus Beta readers still wanted!_

 _P.s James Wolford (I just realized I had accidentally put an a instead of an o during the prologue, my bad Wolford!) is Ralph's dad not Ralph with a different name. Clawhauser is 21 when first introduced, which yes would make him be in his forties but he's still gonna be just as bubbly and Gazelle obsessed. In the sequel or third book (depending on how far I take the second there may not be a third (probably will still be one.)) when Nick and Judy are grown up Nick will be 26 and Judy will be 24. (AU remember? I like it when they're round the same age.)_

 _Ok that's done now let's get to what you're here for._

* * *

Chapter One: Improving Lives...

Jack returned from his memories and to the present. He never liked thinking back on those times but it felt like it was necessary for this, for what else he saw when he looked in the mirror. His crisp, clean, and pressed Mammilian Marines Dress Uniform. Although his differed from the standard uniform, because the whole title to what he was in the military was Mamilian Marines Special Sniper Division. But everyone just called it the Periton Sniper Corps, because of two reasons: one the Municipal State of Periton had the largest military base in Mammilia and contained the headquarters and training grounds for the MMSSD; and secondly...it was way easier to say than to spit the whole entire title out plus your name and rank. So Jack in short was a part of the Periton Sniper Corps, the most elite and prestigious snipers in the whole Mammilian military. His uniform differed in the red was a darker shade and in the symbol instead of an anchor was a sniper rifle.

The Periton Sniper Corps were basically the special forces of snipers besides being the leading contributor of snipers to the entire Mammilian Military. Not only were they disributed to branches when and where needed they also provided cover and overwatch for special forces operations, they were sent solo in areas to sow chaos from long range be it behind enemy lines or on the foregrounds, and they were sent on high risk assasination missions of high value targets. Sure branches had their own snipers but they received a fraction of the training and were in much smaller quantities. In fact if you asked any military mammal who'd they'd rather have watching over them and most would tell you they wanted a mammal from the Periton Sniper Corps.

This led Jack to pull out his deployment orders from one of his pockets. He was to report to HardWood Military Base in Periton tomorrow by 0800 hours to be loaded up and shipped out to Afuristan. Afuristan was the largest hot bed of terriosm currently and was divided up into sectors by the military to help coordinate better, Jack would be assigned to two sectors providing overwatch to Bravo Compamy as they cleared every street, alley, and building to flush insurgents out. Both sectors covered the entire Helmand providence of Afuristan and Bravo Company was tasked with clearing its 15 towns and cities along with Delta Company and Indigo Company, but Jack was only watching over Bravo Company. He of course wasn't the only one watching over the ENTIRE company, he would be assigned to a platoon, Bravo Platoon to be exact.

When Jack had enlisted he travelled to Periton itself to enlist, it meant less hassle for him because the cities' population was 15 percent foxes, so he wouldn't see as much discrimination even though most foxes didn't meet the height requirement therefore not many (almost none in combative roles) were in the military. They just lived in the city. Discrimination was one of the reasons he chose to join the Periton Sniper Corps, he figured since he would be solo no one would see him or bother him and those he was watching over wouldn't either, so less hassle.

So after enlisting he went through nine months of grueling training, well... grueling for the others because he breezed through all of it like it was a walk in the park due to his... past, so he passed top of his class. But in truth, nine months should have been seven but his drill instructor had seen he was wasting his potential staying just enlisted so he convinced Jack to go through officer training school as well which Jack breezed through just as easily. So he was now 19 year old Second Lieutenant Jack Hunter, Periton Sniper Corps. This led Jack to be many firsts, first fox in the Marines, first fox in the PSC, first fox officer, and youngest mammal to graduate out of the OTS top of class by one year of age (this particular one would probably be broken.)

He chose to wear his dress uniform today, because he may back in his home inside Zootopia, but outside of his door not one mammal knew he was in the military. (He had been back for two weeks but he never wore any of his uniforms and kept his tags tucked in his shirt.) So today when he left to walk the city one last time before deploying tomorrow, he wanted to strut his stuff a bit and let the city see that a fox had become not only an officer in the military, but part of an elite sub branch at that. He wanted change mammals opinions about foxes, rub his accomplishment in those ignorant, and also show other foxes that they could break the mold that society put them in. Jack wagered he'd garner a lot of attention, heck maybe even stopped by a reporter, which if he could get the whole city to see him it might just help change some things.

Speaking of change, a lot can happen in seven years. Zootopia had once again improved by leaps and bounds, overal crime was down 37 percent, Happytown crime was down another 14 percent, Happytown's conditions improved another seven percent, and predators were intergraded more into society than in the entire history of Zootopia. Not to mention the Prey Supremacy Society hadn't been seen in four years. Of course somethings had yet to change, foxes were still the most distrusted and discriminated against mammals in Zootopia, and they were now the leading in species still stuck in HappyTown, but Jack was helping change that. With help of course.

Before he could reflect on that bit his phone on the table to his right buzzed, the same table his cap was sitting on. Walking over and picking up his phone he noticed it was a deposit into his bank account by Sparrowtail Industries. This allowed him to muse on the subject again. He quickly looked at his account now showing 114,165,873.76, he may be rich (in fact he was the youngest millionaire in Zootopia and the first fox millionaire) but that didn't mean he was just gonna laze about, no he was going to make a difference now just like he had been doing before...except this time he wouldn't be doing it from the shadows, well mostly anyways.

Sparrowtail Industries was his brain child and named in honor of James Sparrowtail but Jack wasn't CEO, no that title went to Demetri Wolfgang. During his time with Big he and Demetri had become good friends and he was the only soul he told there who he truly was. When Demetri had told him that he wanted out Jack had brought up the idea of Sparrowtail Industries, Demetri had a degree in business management (and political science) so in Jack's eyes he was the perfect candidate to help him launch it. Demetri had liked the idea but had insisted on Jack running it but Jack had shook his head and said "Right now a fox running any major business is doomed to fail, no one wants to do business with one. Plus I'm 14 Demetri technically me starting a company isn't even legal." With that argument Jack won and Demetri agreed to run the company only if Jack had a paw in everything the company would do and take the largest pay as well as being considered a majority stock holder when the company took off to which Jack accepted. (but he'd secretly be THEE majority stock holder technically making him the true CEO, Demetri had snuck that bit in unbeknownst to Jack.)

They both had dipped into their funds to launch the company, it focusing on technologies, military technologies, and weapons. (Later dipping into the medical pool once the company was off the ground.) The company quickly took off earning several high level contracts in each division. Technologies major contract was new sim and memory cards, now almost every phone from every company contained a sim or memory card from Sparrowtail Technologies. Military Technologie's breadwinners were: a portable signal jammer, a high tech security camera called a BlackEye, an emp grande, and several flashbang and concussion devices. Sparrowtail Weapons Division's biggest pot was new and more effective tranquilizers that even Jack couldn't build up an immunity or resistance to, and a better tranq gun to shoot them earning its contract to the ZPD.

The company had over 20 locations varying from offices, factories, testing facilities, etc. being spread everywhere with several being in Zootoopia alone including its headquarters. The company also gave to change because it only hired predators for the first six locations including all four in Zootopia, discrimination suites were drawn up but all it took was spotlights being shown on companies that discriminated against preadators by only hiring prey for them to quickly silence themselves. Sparrowtail Industries also helped with change because the company was 48 percent foxes. In fact both small offices in Zootopia were staffed entirely by foxes, and the headquarters was 38 percent foxes. This hurt the company a little because of the discrimination against foxes but the company was at the stage where it didn't matter, and it didn't matter especially to Jack, because so far 37 percent of the foxes in zootopia were living better lives because of his company. Shaking himself fully he cut off all of his thoughts and musings because now it was time to go out and cause some more change, and hopefully improve some mammals lives... starting today.

Quickly checking the time he noted it was 1 pm, in other words time to leave. He pocketed his phone, keys, wallet, collapsible baton, deployment papers (just in case,) some miscellaneous items and holstered his Para-Ordance BlackOps 1911 BlackWolf in a holster right above his tail (angled slightly towards his right for faster drawing) before donning his cap and exiting his apartment. His apartment was in Sahara Sqaure just a few blocks from Sparrowtail Industries headquarters meaning it was fox friendly, and it kind of had to since he technically owned it and was technically the landlord, but he left that duty to the previous landlord a friendly old wolf who luckily wasn't prejudiced towards foxes. Shaking his head Jack internally said _"Hey brain! You said no more musing!..right sorry me continue as scheduled."_ Jack chuckled at his own crazyness and than began walking down the stairs.

Exiting the building he was immediately noticed by those around him. Seeing a fox in a military uniform was pretty much a once in a lifetime experience after all. In fact pretty much every mammal had stopped moving and was currently staring at Jack, and some were starting to take pictures of him and one mammal even started filming him on their phone. Now while he appreciated his plan was working but it was nearing thirty seconds now and he was starting to get a little uncomfortable, side effect of being a fox he guessed. Jack rubbed the scar on his neck a little and then said "what is there something on my face? Yes I'm wearing a Mammilian Marines Uniform and yes it's real. Yes it looks different and the symbol's wrong but it's because I'm part of a special sub-branch called the Mammilian Marines Special Sniper Division more formally known as the Periton Sniper Corps for those of you that did not know that already. Any other questions?" At that most mammals started moving again only occasionally glancing at him, but the mammal filming, which was a gazelle, piped up and asked "are those officers insignias or am I hallucinating?" Jack slapped a paw to his face and replied "no you are not hallucinating, these are officer's insignias. I hold the rank of Second Lieutenant, does that answer all of your questions?" The gazelle stopped filming and tersely said "yep" before turning and walking down the street typing furiously on its phone.

Jack got more or less the same reactions for the rest of the day except for time seeming to stop when he had first left his apartment. He was stopped and asked questions, stopped to occasionally be insulted by those who were jackasses (no offense to donkeys,) though those particular mammals left angrier than when they arrived. Mammals took photos, stared, glanced, pretty much everything, some foxes he even passed asked to take photos with him which he allowed with no hesitation. So his plan was working well, he was even trending on Furbook and Tweeter mostly because of that gazelle's video from earlier in the day. The only thing that hadn't happened was being approached by the media which he wasn't bothered about, most mammals got their news from social media anyways.

It was getting dark out so Jack decided to wrap it up, checking his phone he noted it was 7:00 PM and began walking home. Fifteen minutes later Jack was altered from his course when he heard a child crying nearby. Turning left instead of right Jack began walking towards the sound of sobbing, as he approached he took in the scents around him to determine who was around and was able to tell that no one but the child was outside. Drawing closer Jack was able to finally see the child, no kit crying and sobbing, leaning up against a dumpster with its knees drawn up to its chest. the kit was a little male red fox and looked to be about nine or ten years old...and wearing a Junior Ranger Scouts uniform? As Jack grew closer and closer the kit had yet to notice him and when Jack was about 15 feet away his foot hit something cold and metal.

Looking down Jack noticed a small muzzle was at his feet. Kneeling down he scooped it up and instantly put the pieces together, the kit was out here crying because the boys inside the building muzzled him and probably more, just because he was a fox. A raging inferno lit up and Jack's eyes before simmering down when he looked up, the kit had finally noticed him. The kit was still crying but no longer sobbing, looking at him with the most dazzling emerald orbs he'd ever seen. Jack while still holding the muzzle in his left paw tentatively approched the little tod in a crouched position to be as close to its level as possible, when he was only a couple of feet from the little tod Jack decided to speak and comfort the kit before bringing down righteous fury and justice on the kids inside (the non violent kind.)

 _*Persective shift*_

Nicholas had been crying outside of the Junior Ranger Scouts building for about five minutes. He had managed to get the muzzle off as soon as he hid by the dumpster and had chucked it as far as he could away from him before breaking down. Nick had just wanted to be a part of the pack but they had pushed him, muzzled him, hit him, and kicked him simply because he was a fox. It was a crushing reality. He thought those kids were his friends! He was beginning to think about if mammals only saw a shifty and untrustworthy fox than there was no use in trying when he noticed he wasn't alone outside anymore.

Looking up through tear filled eyes he saw a red fox just like him but older. The fox was currently leaning down looking at the muzzle he had thrown away with more anger than Nick had ever seen in any mammal before. The fox's tail was bristling in anger, hackles raised, and an inaudible snarl was fixed on its muzzle, that is until the fox noticed he was looking at him. The fox's features softened but Nick could see the underlying anger beneath the fox's eyes not directed towards him but towards the muzzle.

The fox than began to slowly approach him in as much of a non-threatening way as possible. Nick appreciated this and also took the time to observe the older fox approaching him, the fox was the tallest fox he'd ever seen and looked older but not old old, more like it looked his moms age. It had a black tipped tail just like his and black dipped paws like his as well, the fox also had a scar on its neck, and finally nick noticed the color of its eyes. They were a brilliant shade of green that he had never seen before, nick then took in the rest of the fox's appearance and noticed it was wearing some weird uniform he'd never seen before. The fox stopped its approach a few feet from him and rested on one knee before getting ready to speak it seemed.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack smiled warmly at the kit as he could see the kit was observing him, the kit had also stopped crying maybe being comforted by the fact that another fox was stopping to speak to him. Jack kneeled while still smiling at the kit and then opened his mouth to speak. "Hey there little one, it's alright now. What's your name?" The kit used one of its arms to wipe some tears alway before quietly answering "my name is Nick." Jack smiled at him warmly again and then replied in a kind voice "well hi there Nick! My name is Jack. So is nick short for Nicholas?" Nick nodded shyly and Jack smiled again at him before saying "that's a great name! Nicholas is a very stong name to!" Jack then flexed his muscles comically getting a little laugh out of Nicholas that warmed his heart. Once Nick had finished laughing he asked Jack a question. "So Mister Jack what's that weird uniform your wearing?"

Jack's smile widened at the fact that Nicholas was comfortable enough to ask him a question and also at the fact that once nick was finished with it he tilted his head slightly. Jack then answered "This uniform? Why this is my Mammilian Marines Dress Uniform Nicholas, I'm a soldier." Nicks head went back to its normal position and his eyes widened before exclaiming "You're a soldier!?" "Uh huh that I am Nicholas." Was Jack's reply. Nick sat up a little bit more before exclaiming "I didn't know foxes could join the military!" Jack nodded and replied "We can! You just have to be really big and strong and you could join too! In the military it's only a height requirement and not based on species! So even a rabbit could join if it was tall enough!" (No rabbits had joined but Jack knew of a huge jackrabbit that was in the Armored Divsion, he didn't know the Jackrabbit's name but he knew its nickname was Lucky Buck for some reason.)

Nick's eyes widedned more and his tail started swishing a little in excitement before exclaiming "That is so cool! So what do you do!?" Jack chuckled a bit at Nicholas's excitement before answering him. "Well you see Nick I'm a sniper! What I do is I shoot bad guys from far away so their bad guy friends don't know where I am and get confused and scared! Then I shoot those bad guys to and they never know where I am so I stay safe!" Jack couldn't help but smiling a little wider at little Nicholas's excitement as he exclaimed "wow that is so cool! I bet you're good at it too!" Sure the subject could be considered a little dark but as long as Nick wasn't crying anymore that's all Jack cared about at the moment. Jack fake scoffed and then replied "only the best in the whole history of forever!" Jack wasn't talking to Nicholas like a adult talking to a kit no he was talking to him not only like a kit but a friend, because right now that's something Nick needed.

Jack talked to Nicholas for another five minutes before deciding that it was time to take care of the scouts that had muzzled little Nicholas. Nick's mood had improved greatly and the only sign that he had been crying were his eyes were a little red much to Jack's relief, Nick had shifted farther away from the dumpster and had sat cross legged in front of Jack interacting with him, taking animatedly, moving his paws about, and smiling. Jack ended the current conversation before striking up a new one, he lifted up the muzzle a bit that he had set down, pointed at it and said "So tell me little one. Did those other kids in there put this on you?" Nick immediately shifted to sadness and nervousness before nodding his head a little. "Did they also hit you, kick you, or push you?" Nick once again nodded dejectedly. "Yes to all of it?" Another nod. "Did all of them hit you?" A shake of the head "only a few?" A nod. "If asked could you point out which ones including the one that muzzled you?" Another nod. At the full conformation Jack shifted to a standing position before asking "and where was the scouts leader during all of this?" Nick shifted a little before replying "the scouts leader is one of the fathers, he leaves his son in charge while he does whatever. Unless they're going some place then he shows up."

Jack narrowed his eyes and thought _"so the bastard just lets the kids run wild and do whatever they want!? That's absurd! Not to mention negligent and not allowed! Bastards probably specist too. Let's just add that to the list of things I need to accomplish."_ Once his thoughts were over Jack bared his teeth a little before saying to Nick "well that explains some things. Don't worry Nicholas I will handle this, these kids don't get to get away with their behavior and to assure that I'm going to call an old friend." Nick who had been looking at the ground sadly popped his head up and his eyes widened before exclaiming "you will!" Jack looked down at him and smiled before extending his paw out to help Nick to his feet and putting a paw on his shoulder before replying "you bet little one, you bet." Then Jack pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

After a few rings the call was answered. "This is Chief Distpatcher Benjamin Clawhauser how can I help you?" Jack looked down at little Nicholas before replying "Yes I need to speak to Lieutenant Adonis Bogo it's very important." ... "Oh I'm sorry he's currently busy at the moment but I can leave a message for him if you'd like." Now growing a little irritated Jack said "trust me, he's going to want to speak with me. Tell him Jack Hunter needs his help and wants to speak with him."

 _*Perspective shift*_

Lieutenant Adonis Bogo was currently in his third hour of paperwork and he felt like slamming his head into his desk. He swore it was like a endless flood and sweared he would not take a SINGLE nother promotion as long as he lived. Finally deciding he needed a break Bogo stood up from his desk before he really did start to slam his head into it, exiting his office Bogo made his way over to the stairs and down them intent on getting ANOTHER cup of the precinct's terrible terrible coffee. Walking past Clawhauser Bogo simply nodded to him before continuing towards the break room.

Grabbing a styrofoam cup his size Bogo filled the cup with the terrible liquid and then turned back to look towards Clawhauser. It had happened just like Bogo feared, he had been too gung-ho and had rushed into a nip den that was being raided, Clawhauser was shot in his stomach once which his vest stopped but he was also shot in both of his legs. After the shooting he was left unable to walk for a couple of months and had gained a eating disorder because of that and several other things piling up all at once. Once cleared for duty again Clawhauser had said no and stuck to being a dispatcher. That was two years ago and he had gained over twenty pounds.

He came back from his thoughts when he noticed Benjamin was currently waving at him while on the phone trying to get his attention and waving him over. Sighing Bogo downed the rest of the cup almost gagging, how some mammal could take such an amazing beverage and make it so terrible was beyond him, before making his way towards Clawhauser. Once he finally got there Clawhauser put a paw on the speaker and said "hey Lieutenant, I got a mammal named Jack Hunter asking for you, do you want to speak to him?"

Bogo's jaw dropped. After the meeting all those years ago with the Fox and the following phone call Bogo would occasionally think about Jack, wondering if he was alright, what he was doing, Bogo may have never met the kit but after seeing all of those videos and hearing all of those recordings he couldn't help but care about the poor kit, well it would be tod now. He hadn't heard anything from the Fox that day on nor had he heard or seen anything about Jack Hunter, it was like after he left the orphanage he just...disappeared.

Hearing now that Jack Hunter was supposedly on the phone right now looking to speak with him just blew his mind. If this truly was the real Jack Hunter he figured that Jack would just want to thank him for what he did at Honorhall. Bogo realized he still was staring at blank space with his jaw dropped when Clawhauser snapped some of his furred digits in his face. Focusing back in he realized Claswhauser was holding up his personal cell phone and it showed a close up high-def picture of a male fox wearing a Marines Uniform, Bogo looked at Clawhauser curiously and he just mouthed "that's apparently Jack Hunter, he's trending on Tweeter." looking at it closer he realized that it actually was the Pertion Sniper Corps variant. He also saw the fox had sea foam green eyes and a scar on the left side of its neck, it was Jack. Bogo quickly put a hoof out and said "give me the phone."

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack heard rustling on the other end of the line and figured the phone was exhanging paws and after a moment he heard "Hello?" Jack rose an eyebrow and replied "seven years and all you say is hello? Could have at least been all business. I'd say I'm offended but considering how we never officially met or spoke I suppose I can't be mad about it. So I'm just pulling your horns no worries *chuckles* anyways first I wanted to thank you for what you did at Honorhall, getting justice for James Sparrowtail and me. Not many would have done that had they been in your hooves back then. So thank you." After a long pause Bogo finally said back "you're very welcome Jack. It's...good to hear from you, being completely honsest I've sometimes wondered what happened to you, you know after...anyways it's good to know that you're alive and well. Is there anything else you needed from me?"

Jack looked down at Nicholas again who was looking up at him with a hopeful expression before replying "why yes there is. I was walking home when I came across a serious assault perpetrated by children on a little fox kit. They pushed, hit, kicked, and muzzled him. I found him crying and got him to tell me what happened, I also recovered the muzzle as the kit managed to get it off. The children who did this are inside a building that me and the kit are currently standing outside of at 1655 Marbury Road, I would like you to come and bring another officer with you that you trust as I am hard to trust other mammals but you have earned my trust and I would like for you to handle this personally. I wish for the child who muzzled him arrested charged or not I do not care being led to a cruiser in cuffs may be enough of a walk up call. The children that hit him I also want arrested, they can recive a call from the Precinct to come retrieve their child I know it's allowed if a serious enough crime has been committed and we are talking Assault and Wrongful Restriant of a Minor/Non-Violent Predator and perhaps even Assault With Malicious Intent, two of these are felonies as you know Bogo. So can I count on your help?" There was a short pause before Bogo replied "I will be there in fifteen minutes at the most, I will bring Officer Wolford with me he was a part of the team at Honorhall." After Bogo finished speaking he hung up.

 _"Well just hanging up was rude."_ Jack stared at his phone for another moment and then pocketed it and looked down at little Nicholas who was still looking up at him, smiled warmly and said "well little one my buddy in the ZPD is coming and he's bringing a friend with him, they'll be here in about fifteen minutes. They'll take care of everything you know, and then those nasty little meanies will never bother you again. But you'll have to go back inside and point out who did what to you, you can also tell me to if you want." Nicholas said nothing just turned to face Jack and hugged him as best he could before nodding into his uniform, Jack hugged him back without hesitation. After about thirty seconds Nick broke the hug and said "thank you so so much. I didn't expect anyone to care but my mommy...and I can point them out I guess, but will you stay here with me?" Nick had looked up and him so hopefully as he asked the last part but it had never even crossed his mind of just leaning little Nicholas and continuing on with his day and he voiced just that. "Little one the thought of leaving you never crossed my mind, you're stuck with me for now." Nick simply just hugged him again.

After that hug ended a thought crossed Jack's mind that he had to voice. "Speaking off your mom little one, where is she?" Nick nodded a couple times before answering "my mom has to work three jobs just to provide for the two of us, she probably just got off her shift at the diner she works at. I live about fifteen minutes from here so I was able to walk here myself." Jack nodded at this before an idea popped in his head, an idea of some swift justice of his own, and he'd use his influence to help do it. Looking down at Nicholas he said "hey Nick I can make a call to the Junior Ranger Scouts head office, I think I have some pull and can get them to fire the leader of this troop and get all of these kits kicked out. What do you think?"

 _*Perspective shift*_

Nick was ecstatic! Not only had this older fox Jack helped cheer him up, Jack had also called a friend from the Police to come and help him! If his mom had tried to do anything it probably would have been brushed under the rug but with this fox this situation wasn't about to be ingnored, it was going to be handled head on! Also seeing a fox like this gave Nick hope again that maybe mammals could look pass the stereotypes of foxes and start to treat them better. Not to mention seeing that a fox could be a solider gave him further hope that he could do something meaningful with his life instead of doing something like hustling like he knew a kit older than him named Finnick had resorted to.

He couldn't help it and hugged Jack a couple of times and he'd even hugged back to! He even smiled at him a lot and didn't talk to him like a little kid, he was awesome! Now he was saying he could punish those meanies and the leader even more than they were about to be punished!? It had to be a dream! Nick looked at Jack with widened eyes and exclaimed "you could do that!" Jack smiled down at him again and said "you bet kiddo, just sit tight and I'll make this call real quick."

Nick watched Jack for the next five minutes as he spoke into his phone to the headquarters for the Junior Ranger Scouts. Jack had started off talking in a heated tone throwing around threats of lawsuits before it seemed he reached somewhere with whoever he was speaking to. While Jack was talking Nick was thinking of things to ask him once the call was over and so far could only come up with asking why Jack was so tall, like he was almost the size of a wolf! Nick also thought about maybe asking how old he was too out of curiosity.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack finished up his call and was very satisfied with the results and relayed them to Nicholas who was waiting patiently while playing with his tail a little. "Well little one I was able to get the pack leader fired, he is no longer allowed to lead any pack in the Junior Ranger Scouts and is also, well he's fired. Also effective immediately those bullies inside are kicked out of the Scouts and barred from ever rejoining, the headquarters will be calling to inform their parents after I call them back to give them the go ahead." For the third time that day nick hugged him.

After that hug was ended Nick decided to ask him a question, well it started out more as a statement anyways. "You know you're pretty big for a fox." Jack looked at himself up and down before saying "that I am little one, and before you ask I have absolutely zero clue why I am this big, I mean my dad was this big maybe even bigger, so maybe hereditary?" Nick nodded at this before catching something in that statement, and he voiced it. "Was?" Jack flinched a little bit before replying softly "yeah, was. He and my mother were both killed when I was four, but I still remember everything about them." _"Even how they looked as they died.."_ shaking his head to clear it of dark thoughts he tuned back in to Nicks follow up statement.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know. But at least you had a dad, my mom got pregnant with me while she was young and she says my dad ran when she told him." Jack shook his head at this, foxes for the majority mated for life and NEVER abandoned their kits, young or not for Nick's father to do that to not only him but his mother made that fox a particular scumbag that would treated as a pariah by its own species but it was well deserved in his opinion. This thought led Jack to ask little Nicholas another question. "So little one, how old are you exactly I don't think I asked." Nick quickly replied "I'm nine." Jack nodded at this before asking another question of his own. "So Nick how old is your mom now?" It was an innocent question to Jack, he just wanted to figure out what exactly young meant when Nick said his mom had him while young. "She's 25." Was Nick's answer.

 _"wow, that means she got pregnant with him when she was 16, while rare for foxes it's not super uncommon. I bet that bastard told her he wouldn't knot, piece of shit garbage he is. Oh if I ever meet him my fists are gonna play How Many Teeth Can We Knock Out!"_ Jack left his thoughts before he started to get angry as he was already clenching and unclenching his fists. He was further calmed down when Nicholas asked him "so how old are you Jack?" Jack thought the question was more than fair so he answered "I'm 19."

They talked back and forth for another five minutes before they saw two ZPD cruisers turn a corner and then pull up in front of the steps to the building. Out of the first cruiser stepped out Lieutenant Adonis Bogo who began to approach him and Nicholas, out of the second cruiser stepped out who Jack presumed was Officer Wolford. Once they both made it to Jack and Nick Jack greeted Bogo while Wolford kneeled down and greeted Nick. Jack stuck out his paw and Bogo bended down a little and shook it. "It's nice to finally meet in the flesh Bogo." Bogo nodded and replied "likewise Jack, likewise." He then looked over at Nick who had finished meeting Wolford, looked back at Jack and said "I take it this is the kit that was assaulted?" Jack simply nodded.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Nick watched as the cruisers pulled up. The first officer that got out was a big Water Buffalo and the second was a wolf. Nick immediately assumed that the wolf was Jack's friend but it's name plate said _J. Wolford_ so that would mean that the Water Buffalo was his friend. It was confirmed when the buffalo went straight to Jack and shook his paw while the wolf kneeled down and extended his own. "Hey there kiddo my name is Officer James Wolford and I'm here to help you out. Bullies are mean and need to be taught that it's not ok, so we decided to come here and help your bullies be taught a lesson, how's that sound champ?"

While the wolf was taking nick glanced over at Jack and the Water Buffalo and was suprised when he looked at Jack. Jack was looking at the wolf speaking to him with slightly narrowed eyes and his hackles were raised a little, also his tail was puffed out a little. Nick didn't even think Jack realized it, and Nick quickly realized that Jack was being a little defensive and protective of him and subconsciously didn't like the wolf being so close to him. It made Nick feel a little special but he decided to quickly answer and greet the wolf so maybe Jack would calm down some.

Nick shook the wolf's paw before introducing himself and answering the wolf, Nick also didn't like how this wolf was currently talking down to him a little like Nick didn't know that already. "Hi Officer Wolford my name is Nick. Thank you for coming to help me." The wolf officer smiled at him before replying "no problem champ" and tussling the fur on his head a little, Nick didn't like that and looking at Jack he saw that Jack REALLY didn't like it all, his tail was now completely bristling and swishing in agitation steadily.

He noticed how Jack effectively cut off the conversation he was having with the Water Buffalo before shifting to greet the wolf officer. As both him and the Water Buffalo were shifting to change to the next mammal he noticed that Jack shifted in a way so while he was greeting the wolf he was staying slightly in front of him blocking the wolf's view of him. Craning slightly he noticed that the wolf seemed to had noticed the move as well and didn't seem to mind, then Nick remembered that over the phone he had told the Water Buffalo he had hard time trusting mammals so it now made more sense.

Shifting his focus again Nick foucsed in on the Water Buffalo that had just finished kneeling and stuck out a hoof to shake Nick's paw. "Hello there I am Lieutenant Adonis Bogo. Jack called me because you have an issue with some bigoted, specist mammals that need to be taught some proper manners am I right?" Nick already liked this Buffalo more and replied "mhmm, I thought they were my friends! But they tricked me so they could hurt me." The Water Buffalo nodded at this before replying "I also understand that these particular mammals put a muzzle on you and hit you?" At this Nick simply nodded. "Could you point out who did what?" Another nod. "Good, well lets get in there and take care of this shall we?" Again a nod.

Everyone shifted and turned and began walking towards the steps. Once there Nick stopped suddenly growing nervous at facing these bullies so soon. Jack who had already been standing next to him on his right shifted closer to him so they were practically touching. Jack also put a paw comfortingly on his left shoulder, and then Nick felt something warm snake around his legs a little. Looking down he noticed that Jack's tail had subconsciously wrapped around him a little in a protective manner, this gave Nick the courage to walk back up those steps.

 _*Perspective shift plus 15 minutes later*_

Jack was feeling good. Once they had entered Wolford had gone upstairs to grab the pack leader, which happened to be the ringleaders dad/the one who muzzled little Nicholas; while Bogo, him, and Nicholas descended down the stairs to confront the kids. Nick and Jack had decended first and the woodchuck ringleader had yelled out "oh did the little crybaby _fox_ run home and get daddy? Big deal my dad works at FoxAway so he can't do anything but be useless like the rest of your kind!" Jack had immediately thought _"well that explains a lot, piece of shits father works at FoxAway of course, no wonder the Junior Ranger Scouts Headquaters caved so easily as soon as I said the word lawsuit."_ Jack had then immediately barked out "you wish I was his father! You wouldn't be getting in as much trouble as you're about to be in! Not to mention I'd be very lucky to be considered this little tod's father!"

After Jack had barked that out Bogo had came down the stairs making the woodchuck very much less confident and as brave as before. Shortly after Wolford came down as well with the woodchuck father in tow. The dad had immediately began berating Jack and his species, claiming the uniform was fake, you name it he said it. Jack had brought out his deployment paper which were impossible to forge and practically shoved it into his face, once the steam was taken out of that engine Jack spent the next ten minutes giving a verbal tounge lashing to him that was pretty much for the kids as well and all of them had their heads down in shame except for FoxAway Junior by the end of it.

After he was done with the tounge lashing Jack then let Bogo and Wolford take over, them having Nick point out who did what. In the end all but the Giraffe and the Yak were in cuffs being loaded up into the two cruisers on a trip to the Precinct (they were still going of course). Even the dad of the woodchuck was in cuffs just like his son, once his son had been cuffed by Wolford the dad had freaked and pulled a can of FoxAway to spray him, Wolford, and his biggest mistake, little Nicholas. Jack's asp baton came out of his pocket and into his hand quick as lightning before dislocating the woodchuck dad's right wrist, elbow, and shoulder as well as his left knee before being tackled by Wolford and cuffed. (15 seconds)

The beat down by Jack was instantly ruled justified and the dad was arrested and charged with Attempted Aggravated Assault (a felony,) Attempted Child Abuse (also a felony,) and Obstruction of Justice. As they were being loaded up Jack decided to add insult to injury (in the case of the dad, literally) by informing all of them that prior to conforntimg them he had called the Junior Ranger Scouts Headquarters and effective immediately they were all banned from the Junior Ranger Scouts. Bogo also informed him that FoxAway Junior would also be charged for what he did and go to Zootopia Juvenile Corrections Facilty.

As the last one was loaded up and the door shut Bogo walked up to Jack and said "well that turned out interesting towards the end. Great reflexes. So do I need to send a officer to come take Nick home or.." Bogo didn't get to finish because Jack quickly said "no no no that WILL not be necessary. I will walk him home...unless he doesn't want me to?" His statement towards questioning towards the end and he looked at little Nicholas to get his response. Nick quickly shook his head and said excitedly "no I want Jack to walk me home! I don't even live that far away!" Bogo simply nodded before bidding them goodnight and leaving. Jack moved closer to Nicholas and put his paw on Nick's left shoulder before asking "so little one where do you live?" What he answered he said so casually that if Jack had been drinking water he would have done a spit take. "I live in Happytown."

* * *

 _Done! Hope you enjoyed! Please do review!_

 _Next time on A Father Figure! Jack delves back into a place he never wished to return to, and where no one like little Nicholas should call home. Jack meets Vivian for the first time and what happens next leads to improved lives._

 _thus begins A Father Figure Chatper Two: Starting today._

 _This is TheConcernedF0X singing off!_


	4. Chapter Two: Starting Today

All _right ladies and_ gentlemen", _here we go. Once you read this chapter there's no goin back...because of cliffhangers. dun dun dun!...I'm joking of course...or am I? *ominous mystery music*_

 _There will be a training scene in this chapter, or the next depending on how far this one goes, where Jack uses the Kyoketsu-shoge. If you want a clear picture of what he's doing you can imagine the Raizo training scene from the movie Ninja Assassin to get an idea. If ya never seen it just google it and its the first video. (Google Ninja Assassin-Training Scene) or don't, it's three minutes and it helps with the picture but either way. (P.s minus the blinfolds, creepy dude talking, and the flashback)_

 _the next few chapters after this one will be all Vivian and Nick (I think.) at least two (I think.) planning isn't my forte. It's basically I'm doing something and the story clicks and I write until four in the morning. Like the start of this chapter! I was watching Netflix and then ideas popped in my head and I spent the next three hours typing! It was 1 am! Yay brain!_

 _Please do review! Also still in need of beta readers to help me catch all the little mistakes._

 _P.s in chapter ones author note I mentioned that Nick and Judy would be similar in age, I meant to put Nick will be 28 not 26, Judy will still be 24. My bad._

 _A Father Figure Chapter 2: Starting Today starts now!_

* * *

Chapter Two: ..Starting Today

Jack felt like he had been slapped in the face. Nicholas had answered Happytown like it was the normalist thing on the planet, like he accepted he was forced to live in that place, Jack didn't like that one bit. Jack had to ask little Nicholas again just to make sure he heard things right. "Little one, did you say Happytown?" Nicholas looked at him puzzled and replied "yeah. Lots of foxes do. Mom says we have to live there because finding another place is hard, and she doesn't have the time while working three jobs."

Jack knew instantly that his mother was hiding the real truth from Nick, they were stuck in Happytown because no other place would really rent to foxes (fairly at least) and places didn't pay foxes well enough either. Foxes were payed less, given less opportunities, if they worked at restaurants they got not as many tips, and if they worked at one in places like Happytowm they hardly got any at all because foxes had to save every penny. Now Jack may be using Sparrowtail Industries to help change that but it was a very slow process indeed.

Jack shook himself fully to reset himself before deciding they had been standing there long enough. Jack really hadn't returned to Happytown since after going into Big's service unless he was there to kill a mammal, and if he was honest with himself he had avoided coming back to it for a while..because this is where his happiness died. Jack lifted the back of his jacket slightly and quickly flipped the safety off his M1911, sure Happytown had improved but it was still a crime riddled slum for the most part. Looking back down at Nicholas he saw that he had heard the click and was looking at his back quizzically, he patted him on the shoulder a little before saying "that was nothing little one. Now I do believe we have been standing here for awhile, lets get you home. Stick next to me and lead the way, I might get lost!"

 _*Perspective shift*_

Nick noticed how much Jack didn't like hearing that he lived in Happytown. Nick may have only been nine but that didn't make him oblivious to things, he knew that Happytown wasn't a good or happy place, and that there were a lot of bad mammals there. Not mention a lot of good ones stuck there too. Nick saw how Jack looked in the direction of Happtown and seemingly got lost in his thoughts, his paw had even gone up and started to rub the scar on the left side of his neck. Nick also felt Jack's tail wrap around his legs a little again, which once again Jack didn't even notice his tail had a mind of it's own.

Nick also wasn't blind. After Jack had come back from his thoughts and shook himself, Nick watched as Jack quickly snaked a paw under his Marines Unifrom right above his tail and then Nick heard a click, it didn't take a genius to deduce that Jack had a gun. Guns were something of a normality in Happytown, heck, even his mom owned one and carried it in her purse for her protection. Jack was a solider anyways so it made sense that he had one, and Nick also knew that Jack wasn't very trusting and seemed to be a little protective of him. Nick didn't exactly know why but he guessed it had something to do with Jack's parents being killed when he was little, and he certainly didn't mind either, in fact he liked that Jack was being protective of him (even if he didn't even realize he was being so) because it allowed him to imagine what having a dad would feel like.

Once Jack had retrieved himself from his thoughts he had told Nick to lead the way but to stick close, although it wasn't like Nick could do anything less since Jack still had a paw on his shoulder and was sticking very close to him anyways. Jack started walking towards Happytown at a brisk pace and Nick kept up the pace to the best of his abilities while telling Jack where to go.

As they walked Nick noticed that him and Jack got a lot of glances, stares, double takes, some foxes even took photos. They had even walked by the Fennec fox kit Finnick who had done a spit take with the soda he had been drinking when he noticed them, Nick tried not to laugh as the spray caught another fox kit he was with and simply waved at him. The deeper they got into Happytown towards his home the more Jack seemed to be on alert, he had drawn Nick closer, wrapped his tail slightly around him again, and was almost continuously scanning back and forth as if some mammal was gonna jump out at them with a knife or something.

They were nearing Nick's house now, just a couple of turns away. Nick glanced up at Jack and noticed he had stopped scanning for a moment and was looking down on him quizzically, then Jack asked a question. "Say little one, I just realized I never asked what your last name was, so what is it?" Nick was a little surprised by the question but then realized that it was true, Jack had never asked and he had never told so he answered him. "It's Wilde." Jack simply nodded at that.

They finally turned the last corner and after about another minute of walking they were standing right in front of Nick's house. It was modest compared to the other homes in outside condition, small like the rest, and sported a brown outside. It also had no graffiti on it and a red door. Nick pointed to the house and said "This is it, thank you for walking me home Mister Jack." As Nick tried to walk towards the door the paw on his shoulder squeezed it a little and the tail around his legs wrapped itself around more. Craning his head back a little he noticed Jack's raised eyebrow with his gaze fixed on his own tail, Nick guessed Jack noticed it wasn't swaying behind him finally. He watched as Jack shook his head a little but did not withdraw his tail, instead he turned his gaze and raised eyebrow to him and said "easy there little one not so fast. First I would like to meet your mother and second I think she needs to be filled in on what transpired tonight, wouldn't you agree?"

Nick had kinda hoped he could keep his mom out of the loop but thinking about it some more he realized it would be a mistake not to. Plus it also meant Jack would stick around a little longer to, and he was right his mother needed to know what Jack did for him tonight, although Nick figured Jack wouldn't understand the full extent of what he did for him, heck, Nick didn't even fully know himself. Nick nodded and replied "yeah you're right Mister Jack. Mom should know what happened, like when you beat the snot out of the scout leader when he pulled out some FoxAway Spray!" Jack had begun walking them towards the door but abruptly stopped at that almost tripping before hastily saying "nonononono I do believe we can leave THAT out of the report, we will just say that Officer Wolford tackled him ok?" After he had finished Jack began walking them toward the door again and Nick shrugged and replied "ok, but I still think it was awesome!" They had finally reached the door and Jack brought Nick flush to his side and then rang the doorbell.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Vivian Wilde had just finished changing out of her uniform from the diner and into the clothes she had been wearing earlier in the day when her son had been trying on his uniform for the Junior Ranger Scouts when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly snapped on the pearl necklace and looked at the alarm clock on her dresser, it read 8:02 PM. _"Well it shouldn't be Nicky he's not supposed to be back for another hour at least, maybe it's Skye popping in?"_ Skye was an arctic fox her age and also her very best friend, they had know each other since highschool and where nigh inseparable, they knew the everything about each other even each other's hopes and dreams. Skye knew she wanted to be a nurse and she knew Skye wanted to be a renowned mechanic working on classic cars. As Vivian exited her bedroom and walked towards the door she realized it couldn't be Skye either because Skye was on a date with the mystery male she'd been seeing, the one Skye had yet to tell her about. Now even more curious she moved the rest of the way to the door, unlocked it, and opened it.

She would always see her son first, no matter how many other mammals, no matter what she would always see her little Nicholas first. She didn't like what she saw. His uniform looked rumpled and his looked red from crying, not to mention he was home an hour earlier than he was supposed to. She assumed the worst, leaned down toward him to scoop him up into a hug and began to say "oh Nicky sweetie what happ.." her words died on her lips when she noticed the black furred paw on her son's shoulder and the black tipped russet tail of another fox wrapped securely around his legs. Shooting back up she immediately looked towards her sons left to look at the fox next to her son, and was surprised when she was staring into it's chest, so she looked up more..and was blown away.

Standing in front of her was a very tall male red fox. He had brilliant green eyes in a shade she'd never seen before, he was lean and built but not to ridiculous lengths, his shoulders were broader for a fox and his posture almost rigid straight. He had a diagonal scar running on the left side of his neck, black tipped paws, black tipped tail and his uniform...his uniform was that of a Mammilian Marine. In between her three jobs Vivian had seen photos of a fox wearing a Mammilian Marines uniform but she had brushed them off as fake but standing in front of her was proof that they were real. She immediately began to wonder why he was here when she remembered what she was doing before she noticed him.

Turning and leaning back down she immediately scooped up her son into a hug. The tod had seen this coming and backed up a little and removed his paw and tail. Her son had seen it coming as well and stretched his arms out to accept the hug. Her Nicky immediately wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face in the rest of her neck fur. After a moment he withdrew a little and said "I'm okay mom, just..just the scouts..they." She saw that her son was struggling to tell her what had happened and was about to start comforting him more to coax out what happened when the mystery tod chimed in. "Hey little one, why don't you go change out of your uniform? That way you can get start to forget what happened to you and I will fill your mom in on what happened, ok?"

Part of her wanted to yell at the mystery tod because she was feeling very protective of her kit at the moment, she didn't know this fox and he definitely wasn't Nick's father so what right did he have? But she also admitted it was a good idea for him to change, but it also raised the question who the tod was and why he was here. After debating internally for a few seconds she conceded to her more rational side. Focusing back in on her son who had started sniffiling a little she said "I think he's right Nicky, why don't you go change, I trust he can fill me in on what happened?" She ended that last part as a question and shifted her gaze over to the tod. The tod nodded his head and said "yes I can completely fill you in, I found him outside of the meeting place and he told me what had happened and I was present for everything that happened next."

Looking back to her son he nodded confirming the tod's words before saying "ok, I'll go change. I think I'll take a shower to if that's okay?" She didn't know why her son was asking that but then she realized he must have wanted to give the tod enough time to fully fill her in without hearing any of it. If her hunch was right that meant that whatever happened was traumatizing and she hoped it didn't leave a lasting emotional scar on her son. She nodded to her son she said "that's fine sweetie." Nicky just nodded and walked off in the direction of his room after waving to the tod who waved back.

Shifting her gaze back to the tod she finally fully acknowledged his presence since she'd done nothing accept gawke at him when she first noticed him. The tod was currently turned slightly scanning behind him, he was also absent mindedly rubbing the scar on his neck as well. Clearing her throats a little to regain his attention the tod's ears perked and fully shifted back to facing her. Once his eyes settled on her she said "why don't you come in, unless you'd rather not mr...?" She went to say his name but quickly realized that she had been so absorbed with her thoughts and her son that she hadn't even asked.

Blushing a little in embarrassment she went to apologize when the tod simply held up a paw and spoke. "No need to apologize I know your focus was on your son and not some mystery tod at your door. I am Second Lieutenant Jack Hunter, and yes I would not mind coming inside at all." Blushing a little more in embarrassment Vivian was thankful her red fur hid it and hoped he didn't look at her ears to see the red insides from the blush. She stepped out of his way a little to allow him to enter and he did so taking his cap off the moment he walked past the threshold.

He walked past her and into the living room and she watched as he gave a brief scan of it before turning and facing her again. Realizing he was waiting for her to say something, blushing even more she quickly said "please take a seat on the couch, do you want anything to drink?" Once he was seated he shook his head and replied "no thank you. But, you should probably seat yourself as well, I know Nicholas wanted to buy enough time for me to tell you what happened without having to hear it himself. He may have acted tough around me, but I doubt it will be the case with you since you're his mother. What happened to him has and WILL effect him, there may even be forms of lasting trauma I'm afraid Ms. Wilde. Although hopefully through my actions tonight and your support it may be only a fraction of what it potentially could be."

Towards the end of his reply Vivian had sat herself down in her reading chair situated across from the couch and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, whatever her son had gone through must have been so much worse than she imagined. Shifting forward a little bit she said "please Mr. Hunter, tell me what happened to my son." She watched as Mr. Hunter flinched a little at being called that. He leaned forward a little as well and shifted a box of tissues so they were right in front of her and said "of course, I will leave nothing out and will sugar coat nothing. Also in the future just call me Jack, Mr. Hunter reminds me of something I rather wish I could forget." Vivian didn't know what he meant by the last part but she assumed it was something to do with his father, so Vivian simply nodded. At that Jack began telling her what had happened to her son.

"I was on my way home when I had heard crying and sobbing coming from nearby where I was walking. When I heard it I immediately shifted my course and made my way towards the crying, and once I rounded the corner I saw your son outside of the Junior Ranger Scouts meeting building huddled against a dumpster bawling. Once I saw this I began moving towards him and I stopped when my foot hit something...Ms. Wilde when I looked down I saw a small muzzle. Your son was pushed, muzzled, hit, and kicked by the other members of that group led by a woodchuck, who happened to be the son of the Troop Leader. The leader which was not present but instead upstairs, and as it turns out is practically never present unless the scouts go on some trip." Vivian's paws covered her mouth and tears openly ran down her face. It was so so much more worse than she had thought, her poor Nicky had been practically toutured! Before she could bomb Jack with questions he continued.

"Now at that time your son had noticed me and I was able to approach him and began talking to him to cheer him up a little bit, once I had done that I got him to tell me what had happened. Once he was finished there was only one thing I could do that wouldn't end up putting me in a cell, so I called the ZPD. Now before you become more sullen and angry yes I know the ZPD has been known to turn a blind eye towards justice for foxes but I made a personal call, you see I know a certain officer there, Lieutenant Adonis Bogo. Bogo is one of the few mammals I trust, and he's not prejudiced towards our species in the slightest, I called him and told him what happened and requested he handle it personally and to bring one other officer with him. He immediately agreed and fifteen minutes later his cruiser and the cruiser of the officer he brung with him pulled up in front of the building, the other officer was wolf officer James Wolford by the way. Anyways, once he talked to Nick for a minute we all walked into the building. Once we entered Wolford went upstairs to retrieve the troop leader and the rest of us descended. Me and Nicholas went down first and the woodchuck ring leader decided to talk some smack to me and Nicholas and he said something interesting, that his dad the troop leader, worked at the FoxAway Company. Once Bogo descended FoxAway Junior smartly shut his mouth, and shortly after that Officer Wolford arrived with the father in tow. After the father began spewing specisist remarks and calling my uniform fake I showed him my deployment papers before giving him and technically the other kits a verbal lashing for the next ten minutes. After that I let the officers take over, they had Nicholas point out who did what. The woodchuck muzzled, pushed him and did most of the kicking, the rest expect for two joined in on that. Once that was done, they were arrested expect for the two who didn't participate in the beating. When FoxAway Junior was cuffed though dad blew his top and pulled a can of FoxAway Spray to spray all of us but Officer Wolford tackled him. To summarize both woodchucks are being charged, the rest are in trouble but will not be charged. Once they were all loaded up I offered to take Nicholas home, which he accepted and here we are."

Vivian was still crying, but some were now tears of happiness. She could not fathom the lengths Jack had gone to, to make sure her little Nicholas received justice and the mammals who hurt him punished. Standing she quickly moved over, went to her knees, and grabbed Jack pulling him into a hug. She felt Jack's surprise before he hesitantly hugged her back but only lightly, Vivian was squeezing him with all her strength. After a moment though Jack said in her ear "although, there is something I left out. It happened before the ZPD arrived." Vivian ended the hug and leaned back, tilting her head in question. At that Jack explained. "You see I knew they were going to be in serious trouble but I wanted to do something, make it like one last kick in the teeth. So I called the Junior Ranger Scouts Headquaters and got all of them and the father kicked out and banned from the Scouts so if Nicholas ever decides to join up again he won't risk running into any of them. All it took was me threatening lawsuits for them to cave, probably because they put the only fox under the leadership of some mammal that works at FoxAway." Vivian said nothing and instead just hugged him again this time much harder, he hugged her back again and after a moment she whispered into one of his ears "thank you."

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack watched as the door to the home opened and revealed Ms. Wilde to him for the first time, he watched as she immediately focused in on her son and didn't even register his presence at all. He watched as she leaned down speaking to her son while going for a hug when she froze, her eyes locked on his tail that was wrapped around her son's legs. Jack didn't really know when he had wrapped his tail around Nicholas and only noticed it when they were in front of the house when Nicholas had tried to pull away from him. It baffled him that it had seemed to have had a mind of its own and that he never even noticed it doing so. When he finally did he decided not to withdraw it, it looked to comfort Nicholas and if he was honest with himself it made him feel a little better too, he had to admit that Nicholas reminded him of when he was little a little bit.

Ms. Wilde shot back up to a standing position and finally shifted her focus to him and observed him so he did back, and he was blown away. She did not look a single day over twenty, fur groomed and shining, her features mimicked her son's expect her paws weren't dipped black, that Nicholas must have gotten from his father. She had the same beautiful emerald green eyes as her son and Jack was grateful for that, he was glad it wasn't inherited from Nicholas' father. She wore a simple lavender shirt, a darker purple skirt that went past her knees, and a simple but elegant pearl necklace was around her neck. It wasn't something you'd expect a vixen her age to be wearing mother or not unless you were maybe a receptionist or a secretary, (which Jack wagered one of her three jobs might just be that) but Jack admitted that the simple outfit took nothing away from her, well...beauty if Jack was honest with himself, she was a beautiful vixen. If he wasn't him and had been some other tod he would probably try to ask her out on a date at some point..but he was him, so even if he really wanted to he couldn't.

Jack had long accepted the fact that he was alone in the world and would be until the day he died. No mammal would want to be with him once they truly got to know him. Know that he was a physically scarred, broken, soulless, emotionless, ex-assassin, and mass murderer. His current body count was 600, six HUNDRED mammals had died by his paws. 600 hundred mammals in a six year span, that's an average of a hundred mammals a year, not to mention the fact of the ages he was during that span; started when he was twelve and stopped at the end of seventeen. Sure they were scums of the earth but that didn't take away the fact that their blood was on his paws. Not only that, if asked he would say he didn't regret killing a single one and wouldn't hesitate to do so again, who could understand that? What mammal could look past all of that and love him? No one.

He came back from his depressing thoughts just in time to hear Nicholas struggling to tell his mom even a little bit of what happened to him while hugging her. Jack knew he was just acting tough when he was with him but now that he was home with his mother the trauma of what happened to him was starting to come back, and Jack didn't like it one bit. Thinking quickly Jack decided that he would save Nicholas the trouble of trying to recount what happened and spoke. "Hey little one, why don't you go change out of your uniform? That way you can get start to forget what happened to you and I will fill your mom in on what happened, ok?" He saw as her tail bristled a little bit because he had suggested her son go do something but noticed she quickly calmed down before agreeing with his statement. He was a little suprised when Nicholas said he would also take a shower but he guessed Nicholas just wanted to make sure he had enough time to say everything without having to hear any of it.

He watched their exchange and smiled just a little at the display, and waved back at Nicholas when waved at. He watched Nicholas walk away for another moment before his paranoia got the better of him and he shifted to face back towards the street. He had no problems admitting that he did not like being in Happytown again, and didn't like the fact that Nicholas and his mother lived here even less. He scanned back and forth until hearing Ms. Wilde clear her throat to regain his attention.

Immediately shifting back to face her she spoke to him asking if he wanted to come in, then when she went to saw his name he saw her realization at the fact that she hadn't yet. He watched as the inside of her ears took a slight pinkish hue in a blush of embarrassment that Jack couldn't help but thinking that it was adorable. He quickly spoke to save her from further embarrassment, introducing himself and accepting the offer to come inside. He took off his cap as he entered and moved past Ms. Wilde and into the living room and took in his surroundings, there were photos on the walls of her and Nicholas together or separate, a bookshelf sat against the left wall filled with all sorts of novels and...medical books? Jack guessed she wanted to go into the medical field, the walls were covered with a green topical like pattern wallpaper, there was a two seater couch, across from it was a small coffee table and across from that was a single reading chair close to the bookshelf.

As he turned back to face Ms. Wilde he took in the rest of the house as he did and was not very impressed, a meager kitchenette that while clean was outdated, and a small dining table that had seen better days. Once he was facing her again he waited for her to say something else and after a few moments raised an eyebrow slightly, he watched as the pinkish hue on the inside of her ears deepened to a red in embarrassment before giving him permission to sit and offering him a drink. He was tempted to jest that he'd take a drink only if she had any good scotch or bourbon but decided it would be in bad taste, so he declined the drink and took a seat on the couch placing his cap on the table. Once seated he told her "no thank you. But, you should probably seat yourself as well, I know Nicholas wanted to buy enough time for me to tell you what happened without having to hear it himself. He may have acted tough around me, but I doubt it will be the case with you since you're his mother. What happened to him has and WILL effect him, there may even be forms of lasting trauma I'm afraid Ms. Wilde. Although hopefully through my actions tonight and your support it may be only a fraction of what it potentially could be."

Once he was finished speaking Ms. Wilde sank into the reading chair and said "please Mr. Hunter, tell me what happened to my son." Jack couldn't help but flinch at being called Mr. Hunter because it reminded him of his father and he quickly had to snuff the memories that tried to spew forth. He leaned forward a bit because the barrel of his hangun was digging into his tail and as he leaned forward he shifted the box of tissues that were on the table so they were in front of Ms. Wilde, he saw the tears pricking at her eyes and he knew that those tears and more were going to fall. What he didn't know is why he didn't like the thought of her crying at all. Once the tissues were in front of her he told her "of course, I will leave nothing out and will sugar coat nothing. Also in the future just call me Jack, Mr. Hunter reminds me of something I rather wish I could forget." once she nodded at that Jack began telling her what had happened to her of course omitted the part where he beat the snot out of the older Woochuck with his asp baton before Wolford tackled it, but other than that he left out nothing.

Once Jack was finished had clear tear tracks running down her face, and Jack still didn't understand why he didn't like it one bit. He was about to hand her a tissue so she could dry her eyes when she suddenly stood and moved over to him, went to her knees, grabbed him to bring him down more, and hugged him, HARD. After a few moments of shock at the gesture he hugged her back but only lightly, and after a moment he decided to tell her the last bit he had left out, the part where he made a phone call. tilting his head more so he could speak into her ear he said "although, there is something I left out. It happened before the ZPD arrived." Ms. Wilde ended the embrace and leaned back after him saying that, and she tilted her head a little in question. He wanted to smile at that but repressed it and instead told her the last part. "You see I knew they were going to be in serious trouble but I wanted to do something, make it like one last kick in the teeth. So I called the Junior Ranger Scouts Headquaters and got all of them and the father kicked out and banned from the Scouts so if Nicholas ever decides to join up again he won't risk running into any of them. All it took was me threatening lawsuits for them to cave, probably because they put the only fox under the leadership of some mammal that works at FoxAway." Once he has finished fresh tears had tracked down Ms. Wilde's face and she embraced him again and after awhile she whispered into his ear "thank you." Jack smilied.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Vivian ended the hug after about a minute and stood back up. She used an arm to wipe some of the tears away and when she removed her arm the tissue box was right in front of her being held up by a black furred paw. Looking at Jack she smiled a little sheepishly and blushed slightly in embarrassment again and took a tissue. As she was wiping away the tears and trying to get rid of the tear tracks Jack said with humor in his tone "you know, I did put those in front of you for a reason Ms. Wilde." She began to laugh little before frowning at being called Ms. Wilde, it didn't sound right coming from Jack and it made her feel old so she said "ha very funny, oh and since I can't be formal to you, you can't be formal to me either. So from now on please call me Vivian." She saw Jack smile at that a little and he replied "ok then, Vivian."

Once she finished wiping away all the tears and the tears tracks she took the tissues over to the trash can and disposed of them before walking back and sitting in her chair. Looking at Jack's uniform she just had to ask about it. "You know Jack I've seen the Mammalian Marines uniform before but I've never seen one quite like that, and the symbol isn't even right." Jack nodded at that and replied "Most haven't it seems. This is the special variant for the Mammalian Marines Special Sniper Divison, better known as the Periton Sniper Corps. They recently came up with the uniform so members would be more distinguishable from the standard Marine, before it was just the symbol that was the tell." Vivian was fascinated at that and said "well it certainly does the job, so I take it that means you're a part of it?" Jack replied "Why yes I am. First fox to join, first fox to graduate top of class, first fox officer, I'm actually a lot of firsts it would seem." Vivian laughed a little and said "okay now you're gloating!" .. "I am totally not gloating!"

They continued talking for another twenty minutes. Vivian wanted to lighten the mood a little after Jack had told her what had happened to her son and she could safely say that it was a success. Her Nicky had come out during it and had informed her that he was going to work on some homework in his room, she didn't know why he didn't want to stay out in the living room, he seemed to like Jack, but she didn't question him. He had just waved to Jack and went into his room, leaving the door open a crack. When she turned back to Jack she was suprised to see he was looking at her son's cracked door with a very thoughtful gleam in his eyes, then he shifted it to her, and after a moment he stood and walked behind the couch, shifting that gaze across the whole house before settling back on her.

She was tempted to ask him what was wrong before he abruptly turned and walked over to the small dining table and removed something from one of his pockets. She watched as he reached and scooped up a pen that was on the table and began to write something, after a moment he finished writing what ever he was writing, she thought maybe it was his phone number, before he returned the pen and walked back over to her. He stuck out a paw handing her the piece of paper and she took it asking "what is this Jack?" He looked her dead in the eyes and replied "that is a check for 165,000 thousand dollars."

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack was enjoying talking to Vivian immensely. This was probably the longest he'd talked with another mammal in over a year, and definitely the most enjoyable conversation in at least three. He wouldn't try to argue against the fact that he was a solitary fox almost on hermit levels, during training he only spoke when spoken to and kept it brief and never socialized with any of the others there, in the outside world he never went anywhere unless it was necessary and didn't go out of his way to speak at all. Jack just mostly stayed at one of his many homes throughout the districts, learning, reading, inventing, the list goes on. Yes he was a solitary mammal, and if he was a wolf he'd be the textbook definition of a lone wolf, there would probably even be a picture of him right next to the definition in a dictionary. But talking with Vivian like this made him want to actually try to socialize when he got back from Afuristan, and thinking about that he figured he should tell her that he was deploying tomorrow. He didn't know why, but he felt she should know for some reason.

During the end of their conversation his left ear swiveled in the direction of the hallway as he heard what he assumed as Nicholas' rooms door opening. Shifting his gaze off of Vivian he looked down the hallway and saw Nicholas exit his room, he was wearing red pajamas with a red shirt that would make any soft hearted mammal go awwww, but Jack settled for a little smile. Nicholas waved at him as he walked by and told Vivian he was going to do some homework before turning and going back towards his room waving at Jack again as he went past. Jack waved back curious about why Nicholas didn't stay and join them, then his thoughts turned darker. _"He doesn't deserve this, having to live here, having his choices be so limited. Neither does Vivian, she has to work three goddamn jobs just to provide for them, and probably can't achieve her dream because of it. This is bull! They don't deserve to live like this! Not her, not him!... I have to do something."_

He decided there was only one thing he could really do, the world works on fuel, and that fuel was money. " _Lets see, they need to move out of Happytown, my apartment complex in Sahara Sqaure has vacancies, at least three. Vivian needs a car as I didn't see one, she also needs a new job... Demetri needed a new secretary, that jobs good pay, and with prior experience and a good word from me and shes practically already hired. Most of those medical books were nursing, that must be her dream, regardless she should get a degree at the least, it'll double her pay in the future and give her pay during a 1.5 times increase, so college perhaps.._ _. Dean at Sahara University could get her accepted in, he owes me a favor anyways after that mix up last time I was getting another degree. For nursing itself...in about six months Sparrowtail General Hospital opens up in Sahara Sqaure, it's gonna need good nurses and I know for a fact she won't be discriminated against."_

With his thoughts sorted and set for Vivian he shifted to Nicholas. " _Nicholas_ , _he needs to go to a different school, earlier Vivian said he goes to the general public schools and those are brutal to foxes...there's that private school, Paragon Grove in Sahara Sqaure about fifteen minutes from Sparrowtail Industries Headquarters, it has a strict no bullying policy that will get kits ejected for doing it so Nicholas won't have to worry about that, it's the most prestigious school in Zootopia, but Nicholas getting a recommendation and endorsement from the CEO of Sparrowtail Industries and a endorsement from a military officer should take care of any problems getting him in. The school's a little pricey but he'll get the best damn education possible free from bullying and with Vivian's job, paying for it should be no issue once she's settled in. All in all 155,000 should cover it all, but I'll give them 165,000, the other 5,000 can be spending money however Vivian likes. She can of course reject all of this or some of this, but I'm offering it no matter what."_

With his plan set Jack focused fully back in on the real world and quickly stood up. He walked over to the small dining room table and reached into his left pocket and pulled out his check book, opened it up, borrowed a pen from the table, and wrote the check. Taking the check out he returned the book to his pocket and walked back over to Vivian check in paw. He saw her confused expression and gave it to her, Vivian tentatively took it from him while asking "What is this Jack?" He looked her dead in the eyes and simply said "it's a check for 165,000 dollars." In an instant Vivian looked like she had just been electrocuted. All of her fur puffed out and her eyes widened immensely in surprise and she squeaked out "what!?"

Jack almost wanted to laugh at her reaction, almost. Instead he calmly repeated himself with a bit added to it. "Vivian that in your paws is a check I wrote to YOU for 165,000 dollars." Vivian's mouth opened and closed several times before she rapidly shook her head a few times, and after that she said "Jack I couldn't possibly take this much money from you! not only that why!? Why would you give me any money!? I should be giving you money for what you did for my little Nicky!" Jack shook his head at that and began to explain.

"Look Vivian for starters, I'm rich. I am a majority stock holder at Sparrowtail Industries, in simple terms I'm a millionaire. I'm the first fox millionaire and the youngest millionaire in Zootopia Vivian, after you cash that check I'll still have 114,000,873 dollars and 76 cents to spend, so money's no issue for me! Secondly, you and Nicholas deserve better than living in the slums of Zootopia, you having to work three jobs just to provide and still barely make enough to do it! And Nicholas shouldn't go to the general public schools were education is questionable and specism runs rampant! Seeing you and him having to live like this bothers me in more ways than you could possibly understand, and giving you that money is my way of helping you find a way out...you see this? *Jack traces the scar on his neck* I got this when I was four years old living in a house here in Happytown, right after I was forced to watch my parents be stabbed multiple times and in the case of my dad also shot. Then the mammal holding me stabbed me right here in the neck and left me to bleed out and die, and for extra measure my home was set ablaze. I managed to make it to my parents and got a sort of goodbye from each of them before they died right there, holding each others paws. Then I barely managed to make it out before the house collapsed. After that I was shipped off to an orphanage where naturally I ran away after two years and I came back to the only place I knew, and because of all of that if I took off the top portion of this uniform I could show a dozen of this scar's friends on my back that I got when I was five."

He paused his speech for a moment to take a deep breath, Vivian currently had her paws covering in muzzle in horror and shock and fresh tears streamed down her face, tears for him, and he still couldn't understand why he didn't like to see her or Nicholas for that matter cry. But he continued regardless, she had to hear this. "Sure Vivian, Happtown has improved a lot in fourteen years but it's still a crime riddeled slum and you know this. You don't deserve to live here, and Nicholas certainly doesn't either, you live here because you have to. But not anymore. With that money you could move out tomorrow! Worried about fidnding a new place? Sable Ridge Apartments, 1955 Cyprus Grove Lane, Sahara Square; a kind black and brown wolf by the name of Marcus Oliver is the landlord and he has absolutely no issue with having foxes as tenants. (the irony that one of his fake identies was a grey wolf with that name was beyond him.) most of the apartments are about the size of this house or bigger and in hell of a lot better condition. Worried about finding a job? Sparrowtail Industires Headquarters, the CEO of Sparrowtail Industries is in need of a new secretary, and I know him personally. One recommendation from me and your prior experience, one formal interview and the job is yours, starting pay is 25,000 a year. How do I know you have prior experience? You left your paycheck open on the table over there and I saw it when I borrowed the pen."

He paused again to take another deep breath. Vivian was no longer crying but still locked absolutely shell shocked, and after a moment said "I..don't...I don't...I.." Jack let a little smile show before cutting her off and continuing. "I saw on the bookshelf all of those medical books, most of them on nursing, I take it that's your dream? To be a nurse?" *Vivian nods on instinct* "well that requires education and a degree. Sahara University, the dean owes me a favor, I can get you accepted in but you're gonna have to do all of the work naturally. Worried about finding a hospital that will hire you? Sparrowtail General Hospital opens in six months, its going to need good nurses and when you finally get certified as one I know for a fact that they won't hesitate to hire you, because if they don't I will rain down fury and hellfire upon them because they would have turned away one of the best damn nurses that'll ever hit Zootopia. How do I know you'll be an amazing nurse? Call it an intuition. Now for Nicholas, he's in the horrid public schools system. Paragon Grove private school, its the most prestigious school in all of Zootopia. It has a strict no bullying and no specism policy, so he wouldn't have to worry about that. Worried about him getting accepted in? A sponsorship and endorsement from the CEO of Sparrowtail Industries and an endorsement from a military officer, I.e. me, should take care of that. Worried about transportation for all of it? There's plenty in there to buy a nice sedan or SUV...worried about paying for it all? You're holding a check for 165,000 dollars."

 _*P_ e _rspective shift*_

Vivian stared at the check Jack had just handed her in utter shock. She couldn't even comprehend why he had just gave her a check for 165,000 dollars adressed to HER, and Vivian voiced as much. "Jack I couldn't possibly take this much money from you! not only that why!? Why would you give me any money!? I should be giving you money for what you did for my little Nicky!" She bacame even more confused when he shook his head, then he started explaining.

When Jack said he was a millionaire she felt like her eyes would pop out of her skull and a ton of questions flooded her brain like why if he was rich did he join the military among others, and she wanted to voice them but he just kept talking. He began laying out her and Nicholas' predicaments in life, where they were forced to be. It was something she already knew well about and was ready to question him more...then he traced the scar on his neck with two claws.

Jack told her how he got the scar and tears immediately sprung from her eyes and her paws snapped to cover her muzzle. She couldn't fathom it at all, his parents murdered in front of him, followed by him being stabbed himself, and then his family home being set ablaze!? Then being sent to an orphanage, they might as well have just shot him there in the street! All foxes knew what orphanages did to them, and the fact that Jack ran away and came out with according to him a dozen scars on his back...She thought she had a tough run a life so far, but it was NOTHING compared to what Jack had been put through. After he finished telling his story of how he got that scar he stopped his speech and took a deep breath, even though he hid it well Vivian could tell that recalling that day however brief shook him. She took that moment to grab a wipe her eyes and try and recompose herself a little, she was confident she had until Jack started talking again.

He started laying out all the things she could do and as fast as her brain could formulate the reasons why even if she did things wouldn't work out Jack told her the solution to all of them. He just lined her up a new home and a new job for crying out loud! _"Why is he doing this? He's just told me I could use this money to change me and Nicky's lives, and then went a dozen steps further by laying out where we could live, where I could work! I need to say something! I...I...I..I don't...I..ashdejskskajsnowbsgoniokjhiptdeo..*ERROR! ERROR! Brain Malfunction! Brain Malfunction! Shock and stimulus overload! ERROR!*"_ Anything she thought of saying went instantly on hold as she tried to reboot and comprehend all of this and her voice reflected such. "I...I don't...I don't...I" While her brain was busy rebooting it did log Jack's ever so slight smile directed at her before it disappeared as quick as it came and he began to speak again

With her brain mostly back on track when Jack asked her if being a nurse was her dream she on instinct nodded in conformation, that might have turn out to have been a mistake as Jack immediately blew her mind again. He told her what college to apply to, that he could guarantee she got in, and then told her what hostpital without a doubt would hire her. Her brain became a jumbled mess again of thoughts and emotions with only slight coherent thoughts inbetween it all like what about her Nicky, and then as if he was reading her mind he told her that too. Told her that she should apply to have him go to the most prestigious school in Zootopia, a school she could now afford to send him to, and that he could also guarantee her son would get accpeted in. Then after that he added she could now afford to buy a car, and then ended his entire speech with "worried about paying for it all? You're holding a check for 165,000 dollars."

She just sat there absolutely still in complete shock and her brain was busy trying to reboot itself, it was nearing a minute and she was able to notice Jack's concern at her lack of well, anything besides breathing and moved closer to her taking a knee right in front of her. Seeing his eyes staring right into hers brought her brain back online and since she didn't trust her mouth enough to form words at the moment she just settled for grabbing Jack and hugging him again. This time Jack hugged her back still lightly, but with no hesitation.

As they hugged Vivian couldn't help but have a few tears of pure joy form and fall onto Jack's uniform, but as far as she was concerned they were well warranted. This tod in a single night took care of her son and got him justice at the same time, and then handed her the keys to a better life for her and Nicky. She still didn't fully understand why he was doing this and at this point didn't care, she knew he wasn't doing it as some elaborate plan to get into her pants, she like any other vixen could tell when a tod was "interested" in them in that way and Jack exhibited none of it, so he could keep the rest of his reasons. The ones he provided were good enough for now.

After about another minute of hug and a few more tears of joy pittering onto Jack's uniform Vivian felt more than saw a little grin form on his muzzle and he said "you know, I didn't know vixens could be so emotional." Vivian thumped him on the chest lightly and ended the hug replying with humor in her tone "hey! You just overloaded me with information and emotions, took care of and got justice for my Nicky, and then gave me the keys to a new life for me and him in a single night! I think emotional vixen mode is warranted!"

Jack had gone and sat back down and they had continued talking again for another fifteen minutes about varying topics before it seemed Jack was bringing it to a close, he had pulled out his phone and checked the time, grimacing a little at what it read. Apparently he had lost track of time. During him checking his phone Vivian saw her little Nicky poke his head out his bedroom looking at them before opening it fully and starting to walk out. Jack suddenly stood and said "I'm sorry but it seems I lost track of time, to busy enjoying our conversation, but I need to go. I ship out at 0800 so I need to get home and get ready." Vivian tilted her head in question at that and said "what do you mean ship out Jack?" Jack looked at her a replied "well I mentioned I showed my deployment papers to FoxAway senior right? Well my deployment papers say, tomorrow at 0800 sharp I am to report to HardWood Military Base in Periton to be loaded up and shipped off to Afuristan on my first deployment. It's supposed to last eight months at least and a whole year at the most depending on rotations and such."

Vivian was shocked at this, sure she knew he said he had deployment orders but she didn't know he had to leave tomorrow! Before she could say anything Jack moved over to her dining table again and borrowed the same pen and a scrap piece of paper, scribbled something on it before returning the pen and walking back over to her. He handed her the piece of paper and said "that's my phone number, when I get back from Afuristan you can keep in touch with me if you want, and especially use that if you or Nicholas need anything. I'm rich and I have influence that I never use but in your and his case's I won't hesitate to use them. But for now this is goodbye Vivian..is it alright if I say farewell to Nicholas as well though?"

Vivian was surprised that he gave her his number and at his statement, but her heart warmed when he asked if he could say goodbye to her son before he left, he seemed to care for Nicholas a lot, certainly more than his own damn father. Before she could say anything though her son ran into the living room and yelled out of "yes you can!" Before practically launching himself at Jack. Jack's eyes widened a little before he quickly dropped down to one knee and met Nicholas' hug head on, hugging him fully. Her Nicky practically buried his head in the fur of Jack's next, Vivian got an urge and quickly pulled out her phone snapping a photo of their embrace before returning her phone to her pocket and ingrainimg this moment to her memory. After almost a minute her Nicky ended the hug and stepped back. Jack smiled widely at him before standing again and picking up his cap off of the coffee table and donning it. He then moved towards the door and opened it but before he could exit her son yelled out "wait!"

Jack stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to face them, looking down at her son Jack tilted his head in question. Overcome with a sudden urge Vivian pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Jack while he was in that pose before putting her phone back, Jack never even noticed her take the photo and Vivian still didn't know why she had the urge to take it. Focusing back in on her son she also tilted her head in question, after a moment of what appeared to be her son thinking his eyes lit up and he pointed a paw at Jack a yelled out "please wait right there!" Before dashing into his room, both her and Jack's heads tilted even more before they glanced at each other. Jack raised an eyebrow in question at her and she just shrugged in response before returning to waiting for her son to return, and after a few moments he came back out of his room holding something in his right paw.

As he ran back towards Jack she noticed it was his Junior Ranger Scouts handkerchief that he had been so proud to have been wearing earlier in the day. Now more confused she watched as her son handed it to Jack and said "here, I want you to have this." She watched Jack tentatively take the handkerchief from her son and looking at it before looking back at his son and asking "why would you want to give me this little one?" She watched as her son shuffled his feet a little before he answered "when I put that on it made me feel brave and proud, maybe if you wear it it'll do the same for you. And maybe it will give you something to hold onto if things get dark." Vivian put a paw on her mouth at that, but the gesture seemed to mean a lot more to Jack. He looked back and forth at her son and the handkerchief for a moment before taking it and wrapping it tight before tying it around his right wrist, once it was secured on his wrist Jack dropped back down to one knee and hugged her son again. After a moment he said "thank you for this little one, I'll always wear it, well unless it needs a wash then it goes right back to where it is now. I think I could use a little of all of that." He then ended the hug and stood, then walked out the door. He tuned and grabbed the handle and looked back at her and her son who had moved to stand beside her and said "I'm sure I'll see you both again." Then he closed the door.

* * *

 _annndd done! Did that tug on your heartstrings? It tugged on mine!_

 _Yes Skye is that Skye, and the mystery male totally isn't a certain Striped Jackrabbit *wink wink_

 _Marcus Oliver is a nod to ThaRedPanda and their story Two Against The World. Paragon Grove is borrowed from Dancing Lunar Wolves and their story In Our Dreams. If you haven't checked out their stories yet (which is unlikely but still) you should do so, definitely worth the read! 1955 Cyprus Grove Lane is from...well a lot of stories actually but it comes from the movie originally. (Can't believe I forgot about that *facepalm*) thanks Beecroft and Guest for reminding me, it was around 1 when I typed that part brain wasn't working properly, still can't believe I forgot about that._

 _Next time on A Father Figure! Jack makes some calls, returns to a home he hasn't visited in awhile to get ready, and meets an old friend. Vivian meets up with Skye and tells her about Jack, and begins unlocking the door using the key she was given to a better life for her and her son._

 _Thus begins Chapter Three: Old Freinds Give The Best Advice_

 _This is TheConcernedF0X signing off! Until next time!_


	5. Chapter Three: Old Friends Give the

_Alright here comes the fifth installment of A Father Figure, Hooray! *confetti*_

 _In this chapter it will be all Jack until he walks onto the C130. The next chapter and perhaps the following after will be only Vivian and Nick as they go through the changes in life provided by Jack._

 _Also! I am shifting the locations of the apartment building and Sparrowtail Industires headquarters as well as the school (not the university) to Downtown, changes in other chapters will be made when I get a new laptop as I am currently working on my tablet and editing is a pain in the ass on it._

 _In this chapter I breiefly mention Zootopia's 13 districts. Every district is an actual district except for one. I subbed it for the Polar Strait District because I always wondered why they didn't have an actual forest district, so I created one. More details given in the story._

 _In this chapter Jack returns to a home he hasn't been to in at least a year. This home is in the Deciduous District isolated from the city, it's literally John Wick's house just in the forest, and all the white in the house is darker grey instead, the wood floors and cabinets are darker shades and the outside is painted a forest green with bark brown and wood and stone accents, also there's a large covered front porch. The backyard is medium sized_ _due to a river_ _running through look and you'll see rapids supplied by the waterfall behind his house to the left in the backyard._

 _All chapters I will try to keep on the 8,000 to 10,000 words range, max I will go is 12,000 and the least I will go is 6,000._

 _Some of you may be wondering why that if David Badgerton is voiced by Hugh Jackman then why isn't his name Logan and why isn't he a wolverine, and the answer is because that's just to cliché. Why do I mention it? Read and find out. Also I'm changing his earlier age to forty instead of forty five._

 _Now let's get started._

* * *

Chapter Three: Old Freinds Give The Best Advice, Part One

Jack shut the door to the Wilde's hopefully soon to be ex-home and took a deep breath. Once he finished he looked at the handkerchief that was tied to his wrist and smiled, and for the first time in years he expressed something, emotions. When around the little one he filtered and controlled his emotions none, though some weren't through lack of trying to. He let the kit get to him both willingly and a little unwillingly, and something told him there wasn't any taking it back. Not that he wanted to, no he was certain the little one would stay in his thoughts; and Vivian too. He actually felt happy helping them and being around them, and after repressing and practically losing his emotions it confused him. But now wasn't the time to go sifting through emotions and what not, he maybe could try that once he got back from Afuristan...well, if he got back.

Jack wasn't a stranger to the fact that there was a chance that he could die over there, and quite frankly it didn't bother him one bit. He had no one, no one would mourn his lose; hell, they'd probably just bury him in the sand rather than waste the effort of bringing him home. At this thought he decided it didn't feel right to call Zootopia home, it just didn't fit, this place hadn't given him any favors, no good memories. _"You know what? They can bury me in the sand, It's not like I'd be missed at all here, or there."_ After finished that thought he frowned, because Nicholas would miss him, and maybe Vivian too. In that moment a look of sheer determination filtered across his face and he made a vow _"I WILL make it back alive, for Nicholas' sake. He gave me this for a reason, and it'd be like I was just throwing it and him away. His father already did that, I won't do the same. I'll be his friend, and be there when he needs me...huh, maybe I could be sort of a father figure to him. There's certain things his mother can't teach him, and maybe some advice from a tod like me might just help him in life, keep him from making the mistakes that I have. I will make it back alive, because at this point I feel like I have to."_

 _xxx_

Jack waited until he was out of Happytown before pulling his phone from his pockets, he had some calls to make. Flipping through his contacts he got to who he was looking for and dialed the number, as he talked on the phone he started walking back home and his expressions went to the default neutralness they usually had. The mammal picked up on the third ring. "Hey Jack, I take it your calling about the field test of those items I sent you?" ...

"Hey Demetri, yeah I'm calling about the tests and something else actually, something important." ...

"Well well color me surprised! You're actually calling me about something other than the company!? I'm marking this on the calendar for sure!" ...

"Really Demetri? Come on be serious." ...

"Your asking me to be serious!? Did you just here what you just said!? Jack you NEVER call to talk about anything else but business, you only come here if absolutely necessary, and you never go out! Jack you're like a freaking machine! Now you want to talk to me about something other than work!? Jack you got to understand how surprising this is for me, you know the last time you actually talked to me? And I mean REALLY talked to me? Two years ago. Jack I'm worried about you, you got to know that."

"Yeah I know Demetri, I know. I have been running like a machine for a while, I've practically become a recluse, retracted into myslef. Something that happened today made be realize that and trust me once I get back from Afuristan I think it's time I actually... I think it's time I actually start living." ...

"Jack you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that, I've hated watching you be like this. But we're getting off topic and I know you're short for time so let get to the reason you really called, business first."...

"alright boss alright. Well the contacts worked well, didn't have to wear sunglasses at all today. You're clear to move it to testing on mammals that actually need to wear contacts, if all goes well mammals won't need to spend a forutune on glasses anymore. The new processing cards worked spectacular as well, stock store bought laptop worked like it was coustom built, but I think further tests are required and I'll leave that bit in your paws. Finally the biometric realese for the holsters are a bust, complete failure on all levels, so back to the drawing board with that one."

"Ok, two out of three ain't bad. I'll have Technologies begin further testing on the processing cards immediately. MT division won't be happy though, they thought they had it right this time, preliminary tests looked promising and it worked well in the testing facility. The dimming contacts will have to wait a bit, there a smaller bid compared to the other two and other projects we got going currently in the medical field." ...

"noted Demetri, and I agree about the contacts. They were useful but we're dealing with a small market for them, nows not the time." ...

"glad you agree Jack, now I'll just deal with all of this...and everything else...gods I wish I had another secretary this sifting through all of this plus all the small things is maddening! Why did Cheryl have to our Ibexas office! why!" ...

*chuckles "you know why Demetri her husband got a great job offer down there. A job you just don't refuse! And... I actually have a potential replacement for you."

"...well go on then don't keep me in suspense!" ...

"alright Demetri calm down my friend. Some time in the next few days a Vixen by the name of Vivian Wilde may apply there at the headquarters, she'll be asking for the secretary postion. She has prior experience and my personal recommendation Demetri, so I wholly expect her to be hired. Do a formal interview but she's to get the job regardless. Non-negotiable." ...

"...well damn Jack, ok. If you're the one vouching for her yeah she's good as hired so no need to go all threatening mode on me. I'll also do the interview for sure, I'll probably just chat with her and maybe ask a few general questions, and I'll even do it same day. So anything else Jack or was that it?" ...

"... There is one more thing, she has a son. A little kit named Nicholas. Right now he's in the public schools system of Zootopia and to say it's rough to foxes may just be an understatement, I directed Vivian to apply her son at Paragon Grove. I want you to endorse Nicholas and sponsor him."

"I...I'm confused. Jack what the hell is going on? You want me to hire a vixen you've never told me about that I'm also not sure what your relationship with her is and the fact that as you just said you've been living like a recluse makes it damn hard to meet a girl, ok I'll do it because she has your recommendation. But endorsing her kit? Jack you're not making much sense right now, I mean I'll do it for you of course but why? You interested in getting with this vixen or something? Because this would be one elaborate plan just to get into her pants and.." Demetri wasn't aloud to continue as the neutralness of Jack faded and rage took its place and he snarled out in a menacing tone "DEMETRI! You have better silence yourself NOW, or I may just do something I may actually regret. Do NOT speak of something or infer anything if you don't know the cause as you've just said. I WOULD NOT and will NEVER do ANYTHING like that to ANY mammal, especially not one like HER! AM. I. CLEAR!?" When silence was his answer on the other end he continued, fading his expression back to neutral and continuing on his way.

"Good Demetri. To answer your questions no I am not interested in persuing her, even if I wanted to the second she learns more about me is the second she's gone and I'm left even more alone than I was before, I'm not doing that to myself, I have enough heartbreak as it is. The reason I am doing this is the fact that long ago I promised myself that if I could save just one kit from living a life like mine I would do anything in my power to do so. Nicholas is that kit Demetri, and his mother doesn't deserve the cards shes been dealt either. That's all I'll tell you for now my friend, now I have to go. I have a few more calls to make and I have to make a drive to my home in the Deciduous District." ...

"Alright my friend, and I'm sorry. I never meant to infer that. I will do as you ask and endorse Nicholas, I'll bring it up with Ms. Wilde whenever she arrives. Goodbye old friend, and make sure you make it back here in one piece." At that Jack ended the call.

His other two calls were much quicker and went more smoothly. The dean at Sahara University said Vivian would be accepted into the college as soon as she applied and he would keep an eye on her personally. Jack had met the dean some years ago when he decided he should get some degrees and a formal education. He currently had six degrees and his G.E.D thanks to the college and the deans help in making sure he wasn't kicked out, he would have seven degrees but the dean messed up and put him in the wrong program, thus owing him a favor. His degrees were in: Criminal Justice, Phycology, Sociology, Engineering, Technologies, Mammal Anatomy, and Chemistry. The call regarding Pargon Grove was only slightly more complicated. It required him using some of his influence to nudge certain mammals and get him connected to the superintendent of the school. Once he told the mammal who he was he established that he was sponsoring a kit that would possibly be applying in the future the superintendent had some general questions before ending the call.

By the time his second call ended Jack was back at his apartment building. Walking up to the top floor where he lived Jack walked to his door 16A and unlocked it, opening the door and walking in. To Jack it was considered modest but the truth was that it wasn't the case, to most it would be considered a luxury apartment. The apartment building was originally built to accommodate mammals of all sizes, but when Marcus Oliver took it over he converted most of them to fit medium mammals only. Originally the building was only four stories but when the building was changed to have six floors, the only noticeable difference were the elavators were big enough for ten wolves to fit in, and Jack's apartment. Jack's apartment was originally for an elephant but it was the only one that wasn't changed, making it twice the size for him and have a sizeable loft area that served as his bedroom and master bath. All the furniture and fixtures, counters etc. were fit to a wolf and foxes size making everything seem huge. A large open concept floor with the big kitchen to the right with a large island in the middle, to the left was the living room with a single large couch in front of a coffee table and a 70 inch TV, past both was a large area were Jack trained and to the right was the stairs to the loft and the left the main bathroom, a spare bedroom, and a large closet that stored some of his equipment.

Going up to the loft Jack took off his uniform and put on loose silk training pants and no shirt, he decided he would practice some with his Japense weaponry. After all it would be his last opportunity for awhile. But before he went back down he walked to the full body mirror and observed his many scars, on his left forearm starting at his wrist and going all the way up to his elbow were five claw marks, they were spaced as the wolf that put them there spread his fingers out and went up in a slight wave pattern like a slight and stretched out vertically S. His right shoulder had a very very large bite wound on it and each teeth scar was slightly jagged, the bite encompassing his whole entire shoulder stopping just shy of his neck; it certainly wasn't a claim mark and was caused by a drugged up bear using him as a chew toy. His chest and stomach were a myriad of stab wounds, gunshot wounds, slash wounds, and claw marks; most noctiable being the set of claw marks running from his left hip up to just shy of his right shoulder and four to be exact, caused by a wolf. His back was worse with more scars adorning it, there was a matching set of four claw marks across his back caused by the wolfs brother but running from his right buttock to his left shoulder, this scar took center stage on his back followed by the dozen lash marks in-between his shoulder blades.

Jack just barely had more fur than scars on his chest and back with each scar having full fur in-between them. He had ten gunshot wounds caused by various Medium Mammal rounds like M9mm, M45 ACP, M5.56, M7.62 and several others (he was lucky not to have been shot with any Large Mammal rounds) with six having holes on both sides. He had twelve stab and slash wounds, the slash wounds being of varrying lengths with the longest being eight inches. There were eight slash and four stab, with three of the stab wounds showing on both sides. He also had the one bite large bite wound, and counting the individual claw marks he had thirteen of them. Not counting the twelve lash marks that added up to 36 scars total, and 50 once they were. Jack could safely say that he had more scars than happy memories in his eyes.

The scars led him to a little self reflection. He had to admit that when he was twelve he was a cocky little shit, and he payed for it. He had called himself an "expert" in so many things when he was truly an expert on maybe a quarter of it then, now maybe half. He was TRULY an expert in: Marksmammalship, lockpicking, pickpocketing, disguise, Japanese weaponry, Assault rifles, pawguns, the asp baton, knives, swords, throwing weapons in general. Stealth, infiltration, forgery, emotion suppression and control, 6 different fighting styles, defensive driving, evasive driving, mammal anatomies, criminal justice, Phycology, mammal biologies, chemistry, basic to moderate engineering, ZPD and ZBI criminal databases, layout of Zootopia, and security systems. Fluent in 6 different languages including Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.

Killing a bunch of unaware mammals was easy, and it had only fed Jack's cockiness and over confidence. He quickly relized that when Big had sent him after the Triads in the beginning of his second year. The Triads were looking to put a foothold down in Zootopia so Big had sent him to Hong Kong to curb the problem before it started and kill the mammals wanting to push into Zootopia within the Triads. He had been so cocky he hadn't even packed any sort of vest, and at the end of that three week trip he came back with 7 wounds varying from stab to gunshot and the particular Traid leaders head.

You'd think Jack would have learned his lesson, but he didn't. He truly learned it when a year later Big sent him after the Yakuza. The Yakuza were looking to do the same as the Triads had the year prior so he boarded a private jet to Japan. It took him two months to return and when he did he came back with 20 wounds and the Yakuza leaders head. The reason it took two months is because he got put in a coma for three weeks after his third day there, Big's contacts in Japan were able to recover him but he was barely alive after fighting six...well, six ninjas (he did manage to kill three, though with a grenade). But technically they were specialized Yakuza assasins trained in the art of Ninjutsu, same difference in Jack's eyes, but that fight alone garnered him 13 of the wounds he brought back with him and they were the worst. They were all of his claw wounds.

After that he acknowledged he wasn't as good as he thought he was and was much more careful and did a lot more training. It showed too because he only gained 9 more scars after. This was also around the time that he decided he liked staying at long range, less chance of some mammal getting close with all of their pointy bits. Sure he had come from both trips with high body counts, and even managed to kill the three ninja wolves (though he cheated and blew them up with an RPG) but Jack considered it more parts luck than skill that he did.

He sighing thinking back on that trip to Japan, it had scarred him in more ways than one. The thought of his mental scars wasn't something he was particularly fond of, and neither were the damn pills. They were "happy" pills, Jack suffered from depression. It wasn't very surprising when a doctor told him he was suffering from moderate depression and that he was potentially suicidal four years ago, not at all. But Jack like he did with everything coped, though his current coping mechanism wasn't helping him much, he was an alcoholic. Well more like borderline alcoholic in Jack's mind, alcohol was something that muddled his thoughts and was the closet he could get to forgetting things. So he drank plenty, but he made sure he never got sloshed and could keep most of his wits about him, so he limited himself to three glasses of scotch or bourbon spread out to the most an hour up to three times a day. Though he'd be shelving drinking for the foreseeable future more because of little Nicholas than being a solider.

Sighing Jack went over to his nightstand and grabbed the pill bottle. Then he walked over to his dresser and grabbed the decanter of bourbon and poured a small amount, popped a pill into his mouth and swallowed it, then washed it down with the bourbon. He knew you weren't supposed to drink alcohol while taking these kinds of pills but quite frankly Jack just didn't give a shit. Once he was done he took both the decanter and the pills and promptly walked into his master bath, went to the trash can in there, popped open the lid, and then dumped both into it before closing it and exiting. He was done taking those damn pills, he was done drinking, he would mammal up and deal with his problems once he got back from Afuristan.

Deciding he had wasted enough time moping Jack went back over to his dresser and opened up the top drawer. Once it was open he pulled out shurikens, kunais, two ninjato swords, and one of his kyoketsu-shoges. The whole dresser wasn't filled with a single article of clothing, they all presided in his walk in closet except for his underwear which he kept in a drawer in the master bath. No, this dresser was completely filled with weapons ranging from the Japanese weapons all the way to grenades, flashbangs, and concussions. With pistols and their various attachments, magazines and ammunition as well as, knives, daggers and short swords filling the rest.

Taking the weapons he pulled out Jack exited his bedroom and walked back downstairs. He walked over to the closet he kept his practice and training equipment in and pulled out the three wooden posts he used for throwing weapons practice and a wing chun wooden dummy for martial arts. He spent the next three hours practicing, starting with martial arts for an hour, followed by practicing with the kyoketsu-shoge for an hour, then the swords for half an hour, and finally concluded with the throwing weapons for the final half hour.

Once he had finished putting everything away he went into the kitchen and on instinct poured a glass of bourbon before freezing and cringing. Letting out a heavy sigh Jack poured the drink down the drain and threw that bottle in the trash, then pausing and deciding he might as well get rid of the rest, so he spent the next 15 minutes chucking all 30 bottles into trash bags after he poured the contents out. Then he put the bags by the door, they could wait until he got back.

Going back upstairs Jack put on some blue jeans, a brown leather belt, a right hip holster, a three magazine holder above and slightly to the left of his left backpocket, a white undershirt, and a red flannel shirt on top of it sleeves rolled up just past the elbows and left unbuttoned and untucked, he left his ID tags untucked as well. Once he was dressed he went over to his dresser, opened the drawers containg pawguns and browsed his selection trying to pick one to load and holster. He finally settled on a FN FNX 45. Tactical MixWolf (Black/FDE) with a small black reflex sight fixed to it and a FDE colored box suppressor. Jack took the suppressor off and put the suppressor in the last magazine holder slot, then loaded two magazines and placed them into the other two before loading a third into the pawgun and chambering a round before holstering it. Then he proceed to pack a duffel with things he would need.

Once finished he took the duffel and went back downstairs and walked over to the door and put the duffel down, then he looked to his right where three sets of car keys sat on hooks and tried to decide which veichle to take. Jack had a 1972 Dodge Challenger R/T with a black carbon fiber hood and a brushed steel finish, a 1970 Blue Chevelle SS with black stripes instead of white; and a lowered sliver 1971 Ford F100 with black rims, black pinstripes on both sides of the truck where the metal trim would be, and a sleek black cover on the tailgate. All veichles had dark tinted windows and were fitted so foxes and wolves could sit comfortably, they all even had back seats or benches because Jack had them modifed that way if they didn't have them already.

Jack finally settled on one and grabbed the keys for the F100, he hadn't driven it for awhile and for obvious reasons it had much more storage space. Space Jack would need as he was bringing his own gear with him. Jack had gotten permission from the right higher-ups to bring all of his own gear and weapons that he would need, the only thing they would be supplying him with was the uniforms. But to get what he needed Jack needed to drive to his home deep in the Deciduous District, the district was the cities forest region with mountains, creeks, rivers, lakes, and obviously trees, but real ones ranging from towering Red Cedars to Oaks and everything in-between.

The district was his favorite and his house there also his favorite, but it was the main house he stayed at when he was working with Big, and where all of his true stuff was. Jack couldn't pinpoint exactly why he didn't go back there and he hadn't at all since he left Bigs employ, but it didn't matter. It was time the past stayed the past so Jack would be spending much more time there, definitely in the spring and fall if he could manage it, the district was so beautiful those times of year. Jack smiled thinking of the cherry blossom trees he had in the front of the house, imagining them blooming with spring with their delicate, sweet smell in the air. But that led him to think of a certain vixen, Vivian under the underlying musk that all foxes had smelled of cherry blossoms, so sw...Jack shook his head to clear the strange thoughts that had manifested, why he was thinking about that made no sense to him so he banished them. Then added the why to the list of shit he had to figure out when he got back from Afuristan.

Deciding he had wasted enough time Jack pocketed everything and grabbed his duffel bag and walked out the door. Once he exited and had shut the door Jack turned to lock it and froze with the key in the door, seconds ticked by with Jack's face occasionally twitching before he suddenly exclaimed "oh fuck it!" And then re-opened the door. Jack walked briskly back in and went over to the kitchen and opened a drawer and pulled out the box of matches and cigarettes contained inside before pocketing all and re-exiting. Jack wasn't addicted to the things and could easily start and stop with no problems, not to mention he rarely did smoke to start with. But he just decided he would stop drinking and it was already bothering him a little, so the cigarettes would have to do until he got back and he could start fixing himself. He locked the door, pulled out his phone to schedule house keeping here while he was gone, and then went into the car storage area, got in his truck, and started the drive to the Deciduous District.

The Deciduous District from his apartment in Downtown was about a two hour drive without traffic. The district was techinically the closest to the Tri-Burrows and therefore had a line directly to it starting in Podunk, being the forest district it had high traffic from the Tri-Burrows in general as opposed to the city itself. Sure there were lines going directly into the city but depending were you and were you were going dictated what line to take, for instance if coming from Bunnyburrow the best bet would be to take the main line into city center and then take a secondary line to wherever else someone needed to go.

The district itself was isolated from the city. The closest district was the Meadowlands and even then if coming from somewhere like Downtown they would still have to drive all the way the way through the Meadowlands. It of course was quicker by train but that's besides the point. Zootopia has 13 unique districts: Sahara Square, the Canyonlands, Tundratown, Little Rodentia, the Rainforest District, Downtown, Savanah Central, the Meadowlands, the Canals District, the Marshlands, the Nocturnal District, Outback Island, and the Deciduous District. Out of all of the districts the only other district that was isolated was the Nocturnal Distrcit due to the fact that it's underground.

 _xxx_

After two hours Jack finally pulled into the driveway of his forest reigion home. His home was extremely isolated with the nearest neighbor being a mile away and it suited Jack just fine, it was perfect for many reasons like throwing parties, well if he ever threw any. It was the farthest Northwest anyone could go with a towering cliff wall at its back, the literal edge of the city. The house itself was surrounded by a large number of Western Red Cedars amongst other trees but the cedars towered over them all. Jack's house was situated within a large clearing giving him ample yard space.

The house itself Jack had a large paw in. When it was being built Jack found it and bought it in an instant and began making changes and requirements to suite his needs. He added the door requirements, made all of the big glass thick, dimmable, and bulletproof to the point that'd it'd take several 50. Cal rounds just to break it. He darkened the whole paint scheme inside and outside, it was originally supposed to be white exterior with a lot of white interior and Jack had the exterior changed to a forest green with bark brown accents and wood as well as stone covering some exterior walls to make it look less modern, he also changed the trees they were planting by the house to cherry blossoms and added a large covered front porch. Inside Jack made it a mixture of modern and rustic, darking all of the wood flooring and cabinets, made all counter tops smooth concrete, and almost all the paint be a dark shade of gray called ocean storm grey.

Exiting his truck Jack breathed in the scents of the forest and cedars and smiled a little, it may be fall but the scents were still in the air. Jack stretched a little before walking up the steps onto the porch and going to the front door. Jack wouldn't hesitate to admit he was overly cautious and paranoid and this door helped optimize it. It looked wooden but in fact it was 2 inches of titanium with a quarter inch of Ironwood on both sides and had an extremly advanced biometric lock on it.

Jack with his right paw took two fingers pads facing up and brushed it under a black box situated above the door bell and a projection appeared to the left of the box. The projection contained five light blue circles spread out in a slight upside down u. Jack took his right paw and placed a finger in each circle and after a second the circles all turned green. Then Jack turned his paw counter-clockwise in a half rotation and the projections moved with his paw, turning. Once the rotation was over Jack removed his paw as a new projection appeared to scan his eye, leaning forward slightly Jack placed his right eye in front of the projection and it scanned his eye. After a moment a female voice sounded. "Authorization accepted..Welcome home NightOwl." Then with a series of clicks the door unlocked.

Opening the door and walking in Jack looked to his right where a screen was and checked when the last time housekeeping had been out there to tend to his home and noted it said they were there at 5PM. Next to it he also saw a notice blip and clicked on it and a digital note pulled up, " _Mister_ _NightOwl,_ _I noticed earlier when I was here cleaning that most of your food in your freezer had gotten massive freezer burn due to a malfunction, I called one of my brothers who's a repair mammal of sorts and he fixed it. He and I then took the liberty of fishing in the river and snagged some salmon and rainbow trout and put them in your freezer. They should last you about a week, well whenever you come back here, anyways this is sort of a thank you in a way. You've done much for me and my family and put my cleaning services and some of my brothers businesses on the map.. So I hope you enjoy them, Clara."_ Once he was done reading the note his stomach reminded him that he'd actually not eaten dinner yet and reading that there was fresh salmon in his freezer almost made his mouth water. Deciding he would cook up a salmon steak Jack turned away from the screen and then noticed something, he inhaled deeply and his eyes narrowed. It reeked of Badger, male Badger. Someone was there.

Jack slowly drew his pawgun and then slowly screwed on the suppressor before slowly crouching. Jack hunched over slightly and placed his left paw onto the floor, if the badger was close enough he could feel the vibrations of where it moved, something Jack had done to the floors just for an occasion like this. He could judge by the vibrations where they were generally on the first floor, how many were there, and if they were close their exact location. He also slowed his heart rate, closed his eyes and channeled all of his energy into his hearing. Jack felt slight vibrations, and heard the sound of a barstool shifting and ice clinking in a glass. the intruder was in the kitchen and having them self a drink and sitting at the left barstool, it would be their last.

Slowly shifting into a standing position Jack moved silently until he was standing just in front of a wall blocking the kitchen view from the hallway. Jack put the barrel to the wall to where when he fired it would go straight into the mystery mammals brain pan. He slowly began to squeeze the trigger and at the last possible moment a voice he'd thought he'd never hear again called out "Jack. Are you gonna stand at the door all day or are you gonna come great your house guest?"

 _*Perspective shift*_

David Badgerton opened his eyes as his 7am alarm went off. He quickly shut it off, slowly sitting up he looked to his left and smiled at the form still sleeping next to him, his mate and wife Clara. Shortly after he had left Jack in that warehouse all those years ago David had found himself in a bar drinking when he received a tap on the shoulder, and when he turned around and saw her face for the first time the rest was history. 7 years they'd been together and he'd told her everything about his life including Jack, but naturally he kept some details to himself. He'd never understand how the gods or fate worked because two years ago she had came home from work almost frantic and said she swore she not only saw Jack, but was hired by him to tend to a house he owned in the Deciduous District that he had for five years, a house that was just a mile away. Jack, the kit he practically abandoned in that warehouse 7 years ago that'd he'd regretted doing ever since, the kit that when David had come back had burned the warehouse to the ground and disappeared, had been living practically next door to him for five god damn years and he never even knew it.

So he had walked through a mile of woods and just watched the house hoping it was true and sure enough, there Jack was. Jack was sitting on his front porch drinking what looked like whiskey staring at the cherry blossom tree in full bloom in the front yard almost sadly, and David had remembered that Jack's mother had smelled of cherry blossoms according to Jack, and remembering what the date was realized this was the anniversary of Jack's parent's deaths. David almost walked right into the clearing where Jack would see him, but the second he took a step forward and before he could blink Jack was gone from where he was sitting and the door was shut, David was so tempted to go and knock on that door but he was reminded why he had left when Jack re-appeared carrying a duffel bag and a sniper rifle.

Two years after David had left Jack in that warehouse he ran into his old friend Demetri Wolfgang, and they went to a restaurant and talked. Eventually, David told him of Jack and had asked Demetri if he had seen him. Demetri fidgeted a little and then told him no, David knew in that moment he had just been lied to. It took some pressuring but Demetri finally caved and told him everything, how not only did he know Jack but considered him a close personal friend, how Jack had helped him leave the Corleone crime family, how Jack started Sparrowtail Industries, how he had came to the Big mansion and killed three wolves and shot Demetri in the shoulder before asking for Big's help to fight the Prey Supremacy Society, and how Big had agreed only if Jack would become an assassin, and that Jack said yes.

He told him about what happened to Jack in Hong Kong, told him what had happened to Jack in Japan, told him what Jack had turned into. David almost immediately after shakily stood up, thanked Demetri, and gone to his truck and once he was in it, bawled. David cried, yelled, blamed himself for what Jack had become. He had cried for fifteen minutes before he finally calmed down, then he got a little angry. Jack had chosen that life and David didn't force him into it, but then again he certainly didn't help him stay out of it either. David swore he wouldn't approach Jack he just wanted to know where he was and if he was okay, as long as Jack was an assassin David couldn't find it within himself to confront him, to reconnect with him.

After that day he had kept what tabs he could on Jack, having Demetri tell him whatever he could whenever he could but as the years went by apparently Jack just stopped really talking to Demetri and everyone else so the information went dry and the trail went cold. Then his wife today around two in the afternoon sent him a link to something on Furbook and said it was Jack. When David had looked at it, it had shocked him to the core. There Jack was, no fur dye, no color contacts, no fake name, the real Jack Hunter standing there in a Mammalian Marines Special Sniper Division Dress Uniform with officer insignias upon his shoulders. Jack had left Big and had joined the military, it was time to confront him.

David had immediately called Demetri and demanded to know if he had known about it and Demetri was just as suprised at the news and assured David that he had no prior knowledge of it. (But in truth he did he was just afraid how David would take the news so didn't tell him.) David told him to call him immediately if Jack contacted him and sure enough later into the evening he received a call from Demetri. He told David everything that happened within the conversation and it blew him away more than the news that Jack was in the military, then he told him that Jack would be going to his home in the Deciduous District.

David had already been inside the house when he got that call. Clara had called him around five and had said that she was at Jack's house and his freezer malfunctioned and ruined most of his food. David was handy at repairing stuff so he had gone over there and was let in by his wife after she showed him the security system on steriods he had. He fixed the freezer and then his eyes had caught two fishing poles sitting in a corner by one of the back doors, he loved to fish and it would be doing something for Jack and with his wife so he and her had gone and fished some and brought what they caught inside. Shortly after she had left but he had elected to stay behind on the off chance that Jack showed up, and sure enough he got that call and three hours later there Jack was walking in the front door. He was in the kitchen sitting on a barstool drinking some of Jack's alcohol, just waiting for Jack to come in but after three minutes of nothing he called out "Jack. Are you gonna stand at the door all day or are you gonna come great your house guest?" Then Jack walked in.

 _*Perspective shift*_

Jack was frozen in place, gun still in the same spot, finger still on the trigger. Seven, he hadn't seen David in seven years, Jack hadn't wanted David to see what he had become; and at the same time he didn't go looking for David either. He was tempted to as the years went by but he couldn't bring himself to do it, he had been abandoned again, abandoned by a mammal he thought never would. To say he was conflicted would be a gross understatement, he didn't know of he wanted to walk in and punch David in the face or hug him, or both, or yell, he didn't know what he would do. But he had stood there long enough, he'd figure out what he was gonna do once he was in there.

Jack walked around gun still in paw and into the kitchen and there David was, drinking some of his most expensive scotch. He was wearing a blue checkered shirt and blue jeans, and was equal parts observing him while Jack did the same. David had aged well being 53 now, Jack also noticed the wedding band on his finger and immediately certain questions he had were answered and things snapped into place _"That's why his scent is different, son of a... he's MARRIED to Clara what are the odds! Which explains why he's here and how he got in, Clara opened the door. It also explains just who fixed the freezer cause none of her brothers are repair mammals of any sort, it also explains why ONLY salmon and rainbow trout were put in my freezer cause he knows they're my favorite."_

Jack voiced just as much. "So that's why your scent is different, Clara's is all intermingled with yours. You know I almost shot you right? Oh and thanks for the fish and fixing my freezer." As he spoke he approached David until he was standing right next to him, David the whole time including when Jack had first walked in had a shocked expression on his face and it only increased when Jack spoke. Jack just starred at David for a few moments before his face started twitching a bit, then he socked David in the face.

David yelped in surprise shot the paw that was on the glass of scotch up to his nose as it started to bleed from the punch. The second the paw left the glass Jack scooped it up and drank its contents before placing his pawgun on the island and grabbing the bottle. He walked over to the opposite counter and screwed the cap back on the bottle of 1816 scotch and placed it back in its place before putting the glass in the dishwasher, then he turned back to the counter and grabbed the roll of paper towels and tossed them to David who caught them one pawed.

Walking back to the island Jack scooped back up his pawgun and took the supressor back off and placed it back in its slot before returning the gun to its holster. After he was done he looked at David and with a slight growl in his voice said "and that's for abandoning me." David more or less snapped. "ABANDONED YOU!? YOU LEFT ME NO CHOICE! I COULDN'T BARE ANOTHER SECOND WATCHING YOU TURN INTO SOEMTHING DARK! A MACHINE! QUIET AND EMOTIONLESS! YOU USED TO HAVE LIGHT IN THOSE EYES OF YOURS JACK! BUT YOU PUT IT OUT YOURSELF! I WATCHED FOR YEARS AS YOU DETERIORATED, AND I TRIED MY DAMNEST TO STOP YOU, TO KEEP AT LEAST SOME LIFE LEFT IN YOU! BUT YOU JUST PUSHED ME AWAY LIKE YOU'VE DONE TO EVERYONE ELSE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS TO SEE SOMEONE WHO'S LIKE A SON TO ME DO THAT TO THEMESLVES!? I COULDN'T TAKE IT!"

Jack slammed his paws onto the island and roared back "I WAS A CHILD! A KIT! A FUCKING KIT AND YOU JUST LEFT! DID YOU EVEN LOOK FOR ME AFTER!? AND DON'T YOU SEE THAT I HAD NO CHOICE!? IF BOGO HAD CALLED ME THAT DAY AND SAID HEY GOOD NEWS, THE PREY SUPREMACY SOCIETY HAS BEEN BRANDED A TERROIRST ORGANIZATION THE ZOOTOPIA DEFENSE FORCE IS MOBILIZING I WOULD HAVE TURNED STRAIGHT AROUND AND CAME BACK! BUT YOU STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN GONE! NO ONE WAS FIGHTING THEM, NO ONE WAS GOINIG TO FIGHT THEM! I! HAD! NO! CHOICE! SOMONE HAD TO BARE THE BURDEN, TO FIGHT THEM SO OTHERS WOULDN'T HAVE TO! SO WHY NOT ME!?"

"YOU JUST SAID IT JACK! YOU WERE A FUCKING KIT! YOU WERE ONLY 12! AND I DID LOOK FOR YOU! FOR YEARS! I LOOKED FOR YOU FOR THREE YEARS! AND BEFORE THAT I WENT BACK TO THE WAREHOUSE TO RECONICLE JUST TO FIND YOU GONE AND IT BURNED TO THE GROUND! FOR ALL I KNEW YOU COULD HAVE BEEN DEAD! THEN I RUN INTO DEMETRI AND WHAT DOES HE TELL ME!? THAT YOU WALTZED INTO THE FUCKING CORLEONE MANISION AND KILLED THREE WOVLES BEFORE ASKING HIM FOR HELP! AND THEN HE MADE YOU A OFFER THAT HE WOULD ONLY IF YOU BECAME HIS ASSASSIN AND YOU SAID YES!"

"YES I DID! I BECAME AN ASSASSIN FOR GEROLD CORLEONE HIM FUCKING SELF! I KILLED TRAIDS, YAKUZA, BRATVA, CARTELS, GANGBANGERS, DOPE AND NIP PUSHERS, DRUG SMUGGLERS, KITNAPPERS, PEDOPHILES, RAPISTS, PSS MEMEBERS, AND EVEN A FUCKING SERIAL KILLER! FROM TWELVE TO EIGHTEEN I KILLED 600 MAMMALS AND I WOULDN'T HESITATE TO DO IT AGAIN AND I DON'T REGRET KILLING A SINGLE FUCKING ONE! BUT I MAY HAVE NEVER HAD TO KILL ALL THOSE OTHER MAMMALS IF YOU HADN'T LEFT! YOU COULD HAVE SAVED ME FROM DOING SOMETHING INCREDIBLY STUPID! SAVED ME FROM BECOMING WHAT I BECAME! BUT NO YOU LEFT!...and I was left to fend for myself all over again...so I did what I had to, to survive. By doing the only thing I felt I knew how to do...and in the end I practically wiped out the Prey Supremcay Society, I got what I wanted but at the cost of myself...so alone I had to figure out just what the fuck to do next...and now here we are, I'm Second Lieutenant Jack Hunter, ex-assassin turned solider. Killing mammals that I'm told to kill just told by another mammal, another snake in a suit... You don't think I know just what the fuck I'm like!? I am that mammal!...So...here we are."

At this point both David and Jack had tears tracking down their faces David more so than Jack. For David it was just like the day he abandoned Jack, a huge argument that apparently cost Jack everything he had left with him leaving. Abandoning Jack wasn't something he was going to do again. "Jack I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I shouldn't have just left like that! You're right! And just maybe if I had been there I could have stopped you from becoming what you did! I can't forgive myself for what I did and I don't expect you to either. I'm sorry." At this point the guilt caused David to break down and he began openly crying. Jack had, had enough and walked back around and gave David a hug and said "I know David I know, and I'm sorry to. You are right I pushed you and everyone else away, made myself this emotionless machine. I alone am to blame for that, not you."

They stayed hugging for a minute with Jack occasionally patting David on the back so it wasn't to awkward. After that minute the hug was broken by Jack's stomach reminding him that he still hadn't eaten anything since lunch. David ended the hug and chuckled before saying "you forgot to eat again didn't you?" Jack took a few steps back before replying "did I do that? Yes, yes I did." This got David full on laughing and he got out "seriously!? I had to remind you all the time to eat when you were still a kit, haha looks like some things don't change." Jack shook his head and replied "no, no some things don't. Well I probably should make something then, I assume you've eaten so I hope you don't mind."

*chuckles "well look at you being the polite host! And as a matter of fact I may or may not of been here since 5pm so no I haven't eaten either."

"Well then why don't I fix us up some salmon steaks then? Then you can play twenty questions with me so you can catch up with my life."

"Nah-ah I don't think so. You may be the host and this may be your house but I will be cooking for us, I still remember what happened that one time I tried to teach you!"

*laughs "hey! I've gotten better! I bet I could outcook you even!" It was good to see Jack being almost playful to David and he could have sworn he saw Jack's eyes light up again even if but for a moment. They bantered back and forth for a few minutes before Jack finally conceded and let David cook. They kept general chat up while the food cooked and when it was done they took a seat at the dining table and began to eat. Jack filled in David on what he did over the years and answered any questions David had before finally the meal was gone, and bellies full, and also questions answered. Once the plates joined the scotch glass in the dishwasher David shifted focus to more recent events.

 _*Perspective shift"_

To David everything was going extremely well argument set aside. Jack was being engaging, lively, telling all and answering all, and leaving nothing out. It felt good to be reconnected to the one mammal he considered to be like a son to him, and to see what appeared to be a little bit of light back in his eyes. It was disheartening when Jack told him that he was more or less an alcoholic, and that he had depression. David had questioned that if he had depression how did he pass the phycological tests and Jack had simply replied "oh those? Oh that was freaking easy." But didn't elaborate further. David was almost completely filled in but there was one more topic that David wanted to broach, and it involved a certain Vixen and said vixen's kit. David had some hunches that he wanted confirmation on.

"So Jack I got a question for you."

"Alright shoot David."

"Who's this vixen your helping and her kit, Nicholas was it? And just what's your goal there?"

"...I swear I'm going to shave Demetri completely."

While David enjoyed the mental image of a shaved Demetri and internally laughed David knew Jack was trying to avoid the topic, one check in the box. "While I enjoy that image I do believe that's not an answer."

"Yeah alright David alright. Her names Vivian, Vivian Wilde. And before I tell you the story don't you DARE insinuate that I did what I did just to try and get into her pants, because if you do I WILL hit you again and I will throw your ass out of my house and you can try talking to me again in another seven years. I will never do that to any mammal especially one like her, got it?"

David nodded and mentally thought _"another check in the box."_ Jack then told the entire story of what happend, how he met Nicholas and described everything about him, everything he did for Nicholas, meeting Vivian for the first time, all of his interactions with her, their conversations, and what he did for her, and he even showed him the handkerchief that Nicholas had gaven to him and it's story. Jack had been so much more animated when he spoke of Nicholas, it almost sounded like fondness. So David surmised that little Nicholas in a single night had worked his way into Jack's fractured heart. Once Jack was done he added another check to the box in his mind before deciding to get what Jack thought about Vivian, to describe her in his own words.

"Tell me more about Vivian, describe her to me."

"Uh, sure. Well she's about 4 feet tall, paws are russet color, black tipped tail and ears, her eyes are that beautiful, vibrant emerald green just like her son...and well, she was beautiful. I mean she's 25 but she doesn't look a single day over 20! Just from talking to her and meeting her I know she's funny, kind-hearted, ULTRA protective of Nicholas, she's just got a great personality, she's also wicked smart, and a little snarky too, she can also banter WAY better than you can. She also can get a little emoitinal, and I'd wager she wears them on her sleeve."

When Jack had intially started describing Vivian David was worried that he was missing he point and was going to start dedrining her like he was reading from a file. Then he talked about her eyes and then started describing her just like he thought he would, another check in the box. He had one final question about her, just out of curiosity. "huh, sounds like one hell of a vixen. What was her scent like by the way?" Jack's reaction was a little surprising but sort of expected, Jack's hackles raised up fully, he shot up to his feet and his tail was fully bristled and swishing in agitation. Another check in the box.

"Ok what the fuck David!?" David leaned back in his chair and held his paws up before saying "whoa whoa! Easy Jack easy! It was an innocent question! I was curious what her scent was like because I've met other foxes and they smell different each time! Like you, you smell like the cedar forest! I was wondering if all foxes smelled different jeez!"

Jack visibly began to calm at that and his tail stopped swishing and his tail fur settled, but his hackles only lowered slightly. Jack sat back down and then replied "next time lead with that explanation David, your liable to get punched otherwise. For your information some foxes smell the same and others smell different for a variety of reasons, where they live, shampoo they use, type of cologne or perfume, type of MuskMask, or even if certain things are regularly eaten. For instance, Nicholas under the slight musk that all foxes have smells of violets, and according to Vivian that's because he likes to eat violets, I'm not sure of the exact science but apparently because he likes to eat them and if there's a field roll in them so he smells of them. I smell like the cedar forest because of three of those things: where I live, the type of shampoo I use, and if I wear it the type of MuskMask. Vivian like my mom smelled of cherry blossoms by the way, I don't know why and I'm not gonna ask. But it was almost comforting, kind of the reason I have cherry blossom trees, and I say that because I felt you were gonna ask. David had listened to the whole explanation and learned two things, no not all foxes smelled the same nor different, and to put another check in the box.

 _*Perspective shift*_

After the conversation David had stuck around for about another twenty minutes before he decided it was time to get home to his wife. Jack gave him another hug and all of his contact information before seeing him out. Once David was gone and the door was shut Jack sighed, the night had definitely not gone as expected put Jack wasn't really complaing, he reconnected with an old friend and got some insight on a few things and some advice from David like "living alone and by yourself isn't really living Jack, remember that. One of these days you need to go out and open your heart to someone, you may be afraid of what will happen once or if they find out about your past, but the right mammal will be able to look past it and love the real you. If you don't try to find that mammal it'll be worse than trying and failing Jack."

That had oddly been the last thing David had said to him before he left but Jack had no time to reflect upon it, while reconnecting with David was pleasant it did put him behind schedule a little bit in his eyes so it was time to pick up the pace. Walking back into the kitchen Jack went back over to the island and pressed a button that was on the right side of it. A projection identical to the pad print one outside appeared on the island and Jack repeated the same motions except for the retinal scan, this one only required the prints. Once the circles turned green and he did the half rotation the island opened up revealing a set of stairs. The stairs leds to Jack's secret armory where he stored all of his gear and guns except for his idnetical sets of certain weapons at each home and the muplitple weapons hid around them "just in case."

Jack decended the stairs and once he reached the bottom the lights immediately flicked on. His armory was 1,000 square feet just to contain all of his gadgets, gear, weapons, and everything else that helped him be an assassin. Walking over to the areas of the walls where his weapons were Jack browsed to choose what to bring, the left wall was all snipers and shotguns, the right wall was all ARs and sub-machine guns, and the front wall was all pawguns except for the center. The center of the wall had a rectangle carved out and inside it layed a large sort of toolbox/chest. _"Perfect."_

Jack went to the front wall and pulled out the chest while saying "hello old friend" and placed it on an empty table before opening the top lid. Inside the top lid the first thing laying there was another Para-Ordance BlackOps 1911 BlackWolf but this one had a box suppressor, double-stack mag, and a flashlight fixed to its bottom rail. This pawgun was the main one he carried when he worked for Big, in fact all of the equipment in the chest and the chest itself was what he used when he worked for Big. It contained his original Karambit and Kyoketsu-shoge, three pawguns, two sub-machine guns, three other knives, 6 kunai, several entry denial device laser traps of his own design, two claymores, and three concussion, flashbang, and fragmentation grenades.

The chest literally contained everything he needed to pack other than sniper rifles. (The sub-machine guns were an MP7 and an MP9 both BlackWolf) All Jack needed to do was re-arrange a little, he lifted the top compartment up and it extended up just enough to show the other two pawguns. Jack took the top one and replaced it with the identical pistol that was in the second slot, the only difference between the two was that the second one was an FDEWolf instead of a BlackWolf. Jack then placed the third pawgun a Berretta Px4 BlackFox into the second slot and put the 1911 he was still holding into the third and shifted all the magazines afterwards.

Once he was done Jack closed the chest again and then focused his attention to the left wall to pick the two snipers he would be bringing with him and using. After a moment he decided and made his first selection, it was a silenced 308. MK14 EBR BlackWolf with a scope that went from 6x to 16x and had a canted red dot sight. Grabbing a rifle bad he placed the MK14 in it before grabbing three additional magazines for it from the shelf to the left of the snipers and three boxes of ammunition placing all into the bag. The MK14 would be his backup sniper/sniper he would use while moving into positions before switching to his primary.

He browsed his selection contemplating what caliber would be efficient with all the varying species of mammals he was gonna be fighting when his eyes fell upon another old friend. Jack smiled at it and picked it off the wall while saying "well hello Sally." "Sally" was a Barrett M82A1M SilverWolf, and one of, if not jack's favorite sniper. It fired 50 caliber rounds so it took care of all of Jack's bases, no need to pack variant rounds either. Sure if he shot a goat in the chest there wouldn't be much goat left but that wasn't his problem, better it be one shot for all then two to three shots for some, it was a matter of principle and efficiency. Besides, Jack pretty much only shot for the throat and above. Sally joined the MK14 in the bag but with five additional magazines and six boxes of ammunition. Then Jack closed and shouldered the bag, picked up the chest, and then exited his armory.

Once he fully exited the island shut itself up once more and Jack loaded his gear into the bed of the truck. Going back inside Jack double checked to make sure he had everything before turning off the lights and then re-exited and got into his truck. He still had several hours before he even needed to start heading to Periton but he figured he might as well get an early start, dealing with the gate guards might turn into a hassle once he tells them what's in the truck. Starting the truck Jack put it in drive and said "time to go to work."

* * *

 _Done! So, sorry it took longer to get this chapter out but FarCry 5 came out and yeah...it might have eaten into my writing time a bit... or a lot. But I went ahead and finished it quick so expect updates every other week again and perhaps even once a week._

 _Please do review!..._

 _I think I had more to say but it's 2:30 in the morning so screw it._

 _Next time on A Father Figure! Vivian and Skye get together for a little "girl" talk and Vivian begins to use the opportunities Jack gave her for a better life for her and Nicholas. And that's all the information your gonna get, I ain't gonna spoil nothing sorry!_

 _This is TheConcernedF0X signing off! Until next time!_


	6. Chapter Four: Best Advice

Ok _here we go the sixth installment of A Father Figure._

 _Things I forgot to mention at the end of Chapter three: The two sets of claw marks on Jack's back and chest are a nod to Nitemage256 and their story The Redemption of Nicholas Wilde, one of my personal favorite stories (though he takes forever to update it!)._

 _Oh and I got a little surprise for you readers. Bonus Jack yay! I've decided to add just a touch of Jack in the beginning with some potential humor mixed in! Jack will be reflecting on some of the conversations he had with David at the house._

 _by the way the cars engines power will be referred to as Engine Power not Horsepower because to the horses in this universe that term would be offensive._

 _And please, please review! Let me know how I'm doing, offer suggestions, make predictions, call out Easter eggs, call out mistakes (seriously do I won't be offended and you'll more than likely be thanked directly!)_

 _And uhh I think that's it?...whatever its story time!_

* * *

Chapter Four: ..Best Advice

Jack was currently driving down a long winding road on his way out of the city and towards Periton. On the radio turned down his playlist was currently playing Remember Everything dimly, a song he definitely could relate to. The sun wasn't even peaking over the horizon and the stars still shone brightly in the night, a sight you were scarce to see in the city. The windows of the truck were rolled down allowing air to flow through the cabin and bring in all of the smells of the passing forest, and the sounds. To Jack it was so peaceful, and in the light of things it was probably the most at peace he'd been in awhile...then he saw flashing sirens.

Looking down at his speedometer he realized he was going 80 in a 55, so that explained things. It wasn't his fault though, at 550 Engine Power it was kinda hard to notice your flying when it feels like your cruising. Jack immediately pulled over to the side of the road and the cop car followed with him, once pulled over Jack watched in the rear view as an wolf officer exited the cop car, paranoia had Jack flicking the safety of his pawgun. Once the wolf officer got to the already rolled down window Jack already had his license and registration in paw and handed it over to the officer, the officer took it and glanced at both for a second before they said the typical. "Do you know why I stopped you sir?"

Holding back the urge to roll his eyes Jack replied "maybe because I was going 25 over the limit?"

The wolf just looked back up from the forms, placed them on the roof and said "yep, that's why. Now you got any weapons in the truck?"

Jack looked at the wolf's ID tag on its badge and noted it said " _R. Wolford"_ so Jack knew he must be a relative of the officer James Wolford that he had met yesterday. But realizing what he had just asked Jack immediately thought _"Oh this should be interesting, hope I don't give this guy a heart attack."_ Jack began whisper counting them out loud mostly to himself. "Yes I do officer I have..let's see, two, four, seven..nine, fifteen, seventeen...twenty-six, twenty-eight..thirty-two..yes 32." Looking back at the officer Jack said "32, there are 32 weapons in here, two of them on me personally." The wolf's eyes widened and bulged to almost cartoon porpotions, previously a look of confusion was on the wolf's face as a Jack said random numbers with slight pauses to them.

The officer pulled his service revolver and said "now, now. Now's not the time to be joking smart guy get out of the truck paws in the air!" Then into his radio "I need another unit on my location asap." Jack exited his truck as instructed and strolled over to the hood and put his paws on it before saying "collapsible baton left front pocket, pawgun right hip, magazines and suppressor above left back pocket." The wolf officer said nothing just kept his gun on Jack until his additional unit arrived.

Fifteen minutes later and Jack humming the Jeapordy waiting theme song after five minutes the second unit pulled up and another wolf offficer exited. Jack noted that the ID tag on this officers badge said _"M. Wolford."_ The second wolf officer drew their service revolver as well and trained it on Jack while saying "hey Ronald whatcha got?"

The first officer now identified as Ronald Wolford replied "hey Mike, this fox here says he's got thirty weapons in that truck and two on him, thinks he's a jokester. Cover me while I frisk him."

At hearing he was gonna be frisked Jack quickly said "hey now! Getting all pawsy with me is completely unnecessary I already told you where the weapons are!" Ronald completely ignored him and began frisking him anyways starting at his legs. Once Ronald got to his "middle section" and felt around Jack's fur puffed out and he jumped a bit yelling out "THAT is NOT a gun and paw grenades! Paws off!" At that Mike began laughing uncontrollably going to his knees and Ronald was doing a poor job of trying not to laugh, some snickers escaping his muzzle, of course until he got to Jack's left back pocket and his paws froze.

"For the love of Karma get your paws off my ass officer and just grab what I already told you is there!" It was Ronald's turn to jump a bit and Mike fell onto the concrete crying with laughter before Ronald yelled out "MIKE! GUN!" Mike's laughter immediately cut short and the seriousness returned as the officers discovered that at least Jack wasn't joking about the weapons on himself. Ronald quickly lifted Jack's flannel shirt and pulled off the Magazine holder briefly inspecting it before tossing it on the roof, he's eyes lingering on the suppressor for an extra moment before he moved his paws to Jack's left front pocket and pulled out the asp baton.

Ronald examined it in its collapsed state for a moment before tossing it onto the roof as well, then he turned his attention to the pawgun. Lifting up the flannel shirt more the gun was exposed to Mike who immediately said "Sweet Mother of Wolves Ronny! You said this fox was being a jokester! I mean look at that thing he could have smoked both of us!"

This time Jack didn't hold back the eye roll and retorted "first of all 'this fox' has a name, it's Second Lieutenant Jack Hunter. Secondly, I wouldn't smoke either of you unless you were crooked cops trying to put me in the ground. Thirdly, Officer Ronald Wolford get your damn paws off of me for Karmas sake and get the damn pawgun out of it's holster and secured like it's supposed to be!" This spurred Ronald into action and he secured and cleared the gun before cuffing Jack and sitting him down. "You know having a suppressor on any of your weapons is illegal Mr...Hunter."

"I'm aware of that. But only if you don't have the proper permits which I do have, I also have the correct permits that allow me to own fully automatic weapons as are two that are in the truck and also the permits for use of military grade explosives and other equipments. Proof of said permits will show when you run my information. All other weapons are in the bed of the truck if you want to check them."

At the end of Jack's statement Ronald and Mike were looking at eachother and their expressions would shift and they were making gestures with their paws, alsmost as if they were having an argument telepathically. Eventually Ronald just looked up to they sky and groaned out load while Mike grabbed Jack's gun and went back to his cruiser probably to run it and his information. Jack was sitting calmly just looking up at Ronald, and to be honest he was quite surprised they weren't treating him like garbage just because he was a fox, maybe it was an inner city thing.

Ronald eventually looked down at Jack who was looking up at him and Ronald asked "so earlier, you called yourself a Second Lieutenant. You a soldier?"

Jack just nodded and shimmied a little causing his ID tags to jingle a little bit and catch in the moonlight before replying. "Mhmm. Periton Sniper Corps, leaving for my first tour 0800 today. Hence why I have all the weapons, I got the authorization to bring my own gear, I got tactical vests, explosives, knives, guns, ammo, basically everything I'll need."

"Periton Sniper Corps? No shit! Though, I haven't heard of any foxes joining up, or being in the military at all for that matter."

"Well there ARE foxes in the military just not a lot and very very few in combat roles. As for the Periton Sniper Corps I'm the first fox, I'm also the first ever fox officer, and I graduated top of class for both PSC training and the OTS so first fox to do those as well, and youngest mammal to graduate OTS at top of class at 18. Don't believe me all my information should pop up in the check minus the top accolades of course, didn't win shit for that except a lot of harsh glares and looks of disdain just because me a fox beat all of them like it was a walk in the park."

"Well I'll be. Gotta admit all that shits pretty impressive and you don't seem the type of mammal to bullshit, so gotta admit I'm inclined to believe you." With seemingly perfect timing Mike returned from his cruiser and called out "all the information checks out Ron! Get him up and un-cuffed!" Ronald nodded at Mike and stood Jack up un-cuffing him, once un-cuffed Jack turned back to Ronald and Mike and said "you know I got to admit, and no offense, but I didn't really expect you two wolves to treat me as you did and not like some piece of trash like most would."

Ronald and Mike looked at each other and seemed to have another telepathic conversation before Ronald simply nodded and they turned back to Jack. Mike took the metaphorical reins and spoke. "Well Mr. Hunter, I understand wolves are one of the main species that look down on foxes sure, and yes most other species do as well, but for most of the younger generation of the Wolford family mostly because of our older sister Cassandra and our brother-in law James, we've learned tolerance and such against those who we would have looked down upon. Don't get me wrong it's still not perfect and some are still stuck in their ways but most are coming around, and hopefully other wolf packs and other species will start to as well. I saw in your information that you're very closely associated with Sparrowtail Industries and that company is going a long ways to helping mammals realize foxes aren't just the stereotypes society has labeled them as, not to mention you yourself Lieutenant are probably gonna help change some minds..Mammals are stubborn and hard to change their ways, hell, you should have seen the fights when me and several other members of my family came out as gay or lesbian, it took me getting with Ronny here to help show my family that what they think isn't true."

At hearing that Ronald and Mike were together Jack's eyes widened a little before shooting an accusatory glare at Ronald who picked up the speech. "What? I wasn't coping a feel mammal, just doing my job and messing with you at the same time, gay humor get over it. Besides if I was really coping a feel my mate here wouldn't have been laughing. Anyways, what my mate said is completely true, you see I'm originally from the Howler pack but my family just couldn't accept who I was and his family wasn't doing much better but they hadn't disowned him yet. He had invited me into his home and his parents had seen how we were together and they started to change how they thought and pretty soon so was everyone else expect for my family, some mammals just get stuck in their ways. It's the reason why I took the Wolford name when we got married instead of him taking the Howler name, I was accepted into his pack where mine abandoned me. Its been and will be the same for foxes, as more and more break the mold society has put them in and show the world their true colors the more things will change for the better, us and the whole Wolford pack just saw it coming earlier than most."

Jack obsorbed everything the two wolves had said and he had to admit it brightened his mood a little bit and he voiced just as much. "Well, thanks you two for that. Feels good to hear another mammal from another species tell me things are changing, and I appreciate you two telling me that story." Mike and Ronald just smiled at him before Mike replied "No problem Mr. Hunter, and considering how my mate here used some of his brand of humor on you I think we'll let you off with a warning, 10 over at the most Mr. Hunter."

Jack smiled back at the wolf officers before going for paw shakes and said "appreciate it you two, and I think just Jack will be fine from now on. I'll also make sure to keep it under 70."

Mike who he was currently shaking Jack's paw replied "good, don't want to hear bout you get pulled over again or nothing ya hear? Now you go and get back on the road, and when you get overseas try your damnest to comeback alive. This country has given enough folded flags to mammals loved ones." At that Jack just grimly nodded his head before Ronald handed him back his stuff before him and his mate got into their respective cruisers and left. Jack stayed for a few minutes longer leaning on the front of his hood and smoking a cigarette before snuffing it out and climbing back in continuing on his journey.

After about another twenty minutes on the road Jack's mind drfited to a conversation he had, had with David back at his house.

 _*Earlier*_

"So David I never asked this, but I'm curious. Just why are you so large for a Badger, I might be almost twice the size of the average fox but you got to be at least three times the average size of a normal Badger."

"Have we really not talked about this before Jack?" Jack just raised an eyebrow. "Ah, right. Don't ask the mammal who literally remembers everything whether or not something was or wasn't said..Well okay then. My grandad was a scientist working with a large group of mammals on growth hormones for a bunch of different species, Black Bears, Badgers, lions, deer, sheep, gazelle, and wolves were all of the species they were trying these hormones on. My grandad was the lead scientist seconded by a large male wolf by the last name of Hunter, can't remember the first, anyways the main goal of the hormones were to allow mammals to reach average height and weight at an earlier time and help build muscle mass easier. Well my grandad had believed that the Badger and Black Bear Hormones were ready for testing and my dad offered me up as a test subject for the Badger Growth Hormone, well the day of testing grandad forgot to put on his glasses and injected me with the black bear one."

"Your grandad injected you with the wrong one? And the bear one at that? Jeez I'm surprised it even worked let alone not killed you, or made you more the actual size of a black bear."

"Yeah you ain't the only one. My dad was furious when he learned grandad injected me with the wrong one, he found out when in a month I grew a foot taller and gained twice my muscle mass landing me in the hospital because the growth was a shock to my body. Once the doctors and the other scientists figured out how to stop it the damage had already been done, at eight I was the regular height for a four year old black bear, doctors predicted I wouldn't become Black Bear sized but I'd definitely surpass normal Badger standards."

"That's incredible. Maybe that's what happened to me and my dad then, he was bigger than I am at actual wolf size, and I'm only half a head short."

"I doubt that Jack I really do, the hormones never passed the trial fazes and the trials stopped three years after I was injected, funds dried up and my grandad was more or less ousted by his underling the wolf who wanted to focus on different projects."

"Damn. well I have another question you said the wolf's last name was Hunter?"

"Yeah, I looked this up years ago but apparently there's a wolf pack with the last name Hunter. Once upon a time they were the third most influential wolf pack only beaten by the Howler and Wolford packs, and before you ask I doubt there's any relation between you and them. Anyways their now the tenth most influential, seems their alphas can't get with the changes in society so the packs falling further down the poll, but enough of wolf hierarchies and politics, let us talk of other things."

 _*Present*_

Jack had always wondered why he and his father were so big for foxes, him more so than his father. It's not like it wasn't as important it was just so very painful to think about his parents to hard or for to long, it hurt so much it was almost physical pain. His dad had been the textbook great dad, same as his mom. There was actually very few features physically that he inherited from his dad, other than his size of course. He had inherited his dads eye color for one, his broad shoulders were another. Also the fur for his hackles seemed to be longer than most foxes, something his father had given him as well. Whenever Jack raised his hackles it was very clear that he was pissed off, and on more than one occasion it served as a useful deterrent to those more "ignorant."

Another hour and a half went by and the sun just started to peak over the horizon. The second he saw the pink in the sky his sunglasses were upon his snout to keep the rays of the sun from messing with his eyes. He was nearing HardWood military base just crossing into the Municipal State of Periton, as he entered Pertion and exited the expanses of the forests he rolled up the windows to his truck to keep the smells of the city at bay.

Periton might not be as large as Zootopia but it didn't keep the many smells from assaulting the senses, the freshness of the forests bleeding into a mixture of city smells ranging from delicate to toxic and changing quicker then a snap of the fingers. Also, the smell of pheromones was in the air. As fall draws to a close comes winter, in other words mating season for many species foxes included. As a fox tod he wasn't immune to the scents at all, just resistant but it's hard to fight instinct.

For foxes winter and spring is the time to find a mate if you don't have one and start making kits. This is the basis of it but in modern society of course it became much more complex. There were certain aspects he could block like he didn't excrete any sort of pheromones of interest towards any female, it wasn't something he necessarily did on purpose and it led to many a disappointed sigh as he walked by or away. He also resisted the urge to find a mate, this one was particularly easy for him as his brain knew it'd be a wasted effort trying to find one. But that didn't mean he resisted the urge to mate, although he didn't go out of his way to mate.

No, every time he mated with a female vixen or not it was because they needed it so he provided it. It may sound a little messed up but for some females go to long without mating at all and it could really mess with them, so Jack would mate with them shut his instincts up and sate theirs. He never stuck around after and for all but the vixens it suited them and him just fine. To him it was sort of an obligation to sate these particular instincts than a goal or enjoyment.

Another half hour passed of him driving through the city to get to the base, and as he made the final turn the clock read 6:00 am, he was two hours early and it suited him just fine. When he pulled up to the gate guard things quickly turned into an ordeal once he declared he had a bunch of weapons in the veichle, but once he showed the proper papers from the proper mammals it went more smoothly from there.

The gate guards had to log everything he was bringing in and when they got to his Kyoketsu-shoge they had some serious doubts and questions about its effectiveness and why he would be bringing it. Jack had just looked over ones shoulder and spotted an apple in the guard shack. He retrieved the apple, readied his weapon, let the gate guards place bets on what was about to happen, and then threw the apple straight up into the air.

He spun his weapon clockwise for a moment before using the momentum to shoot the blade portion up and straight through the apple down the the middle vertically while in mid-air before shifting and causing the chain to alter course into a horizontal spin and with a flick of the wrist sent the blade through the middle of both cut pices horizontally before the apple even fully split or got remotely close to the ground. He then halted the weapons momentum winding it around his torso catching the blade in his left paw before shooting out his right and catching the apple as it got neck level with him. Opening his paw the apple fell the remaining distance and the guards watched as the apple split into four pieces before impacting on the ground.

Jack simply held out his right paw and accepted some of the earnings before re-securing all of his gear and shifting his pawgun to a tactical thigh holster. He then drove his truck into the base, gathered all of his gear, picked up his duffel, and reported in. After that it was the waiting game before the call to load up was sounded, Jack walked to the waiting C130 and noted some CIA personnel were the only other mammals joining him on the flight. It suited him just fine, he took his seat, took Sally out of the bag, loaded a magazine into her, and sat her on her lap. It was his way of saying "don't fuck with me on this flight." It drew the stares of several of the CIA spooks but no words were said. As the engines started up Jack took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, then he said "show time."

 _*Perspective shift, Vivian, the next day*_

"Skye you should have seen him, he had a paw on Nicky's shoulder and his tail was wound around Nicky's ankles!" Vivian was currently in her favorite diner in the city Fox In The Hen House sitting with her best friend in the world Skye. After Jack had left the night before Vivian had immediately called Skye and told her they needed to meet and talk ASAP, she was vague with the details but she made sure to tell Skye it was super important. Skye was currently grilling Vivian for the scoop.

"No way! So this random tod in a military uniform shows up at your door and gots little Nicky all wrapped up with his tail! Why! What did the tod look like? Why was the tod there? Why did he have little Nicky with him! Who is he!?"

With Skye's barrage of questions Vivian's paws left her coffee mug and she put them up while saying "easy Skye easy! I'm going to tell you! Firstly, he's all over social media how does a tod in a military uniform not sound familiar?"

At hearing this Skye's paws shot up to her face and she squealed out "Oh. My. Gosh! HE'S THAT TOD!?"

"Shhhh! Yes he's that tod! So that answers the what he looks like question, now to answer your other.."

That answer did not satisfy Skye one bit. "No ah ah. I want YOU to tell me what he looked like in your own words Viv."

At this Vivian tilted her head and asked "Why?"

Skye rolled her eyes and replied "Seriously V!? Just humor me what did he look like to. YOU?"

"okay okay fine Skye jeez!...Well for starters he was tall, like ridiculously tall for a fox, when I first looked at him I was staring at his chest and had to look up!..but when I did look up, I, well I was blown away. The first thing I noticed about his face was his eyes, they were this deep, brilliant shade of green that I'd never seen before in any mammal called sea foam green. His fur was groomed and shining and there was this slightly diagonal scar on the left side of his neck. He stood straight and rigid and his shoulders are broader than a normal fox's. In his eyes I saw this glimmer of amusement because I was so utterly shocked when I first saw him and was so embarrassed when I didn't acknowledge him at all. He seemed intensely focused, observant and screamed intelligence, and he also had like this edge of danger about him. And his scent, his scent was intriguing, he smelled of fresh cedars and a real forest in the breeze. He was really something else."

Skye was incredibly intrigued by Vivian's discreption of the tod and felt that maybe some teasing was warranted. "Jeez girl he sounds hot! And it sounds like you're already crushing on this tod hard!"

Vivian immediately blushed but quickly retorted "I. Am. Not. Crushing. on him! You said describe him so I did! And yes he was definitely... attractive.. But that's not the point Skye! I haven't even told you what happened yet!"

"Jeez I was only teasing no need to get so defensive, it only makes you look more guilty! So then Viv do tell me what happened! And don't leave a single detail out!" Vivian spent the next half hour describing every single thing Jack had done for her and Nicholas leaving out no details. Skye was obsorbed in the story and her facial expressions would shift with details and happenings and even some tears were shed when she was told what was done to Nicholas by the scouts and what Jack had done for him after. Once Vivian had finished the tale Skye had more than a few questions and started on them.

"So you're telling me that he just GAVE YOU a check for 165,000 THOUSAND dollars!? No strings attached, no alterior motives? You sure he's not doing this as some elaborate scheme to get into your pants V?"

Vivian got a little defensive at that accusation and voiced just as much. "No Skye he didn't do it as a way just to screw me! Why would you even think that!? Bedsides I know for a fact he's not interested in me that way!"

At Vivian's little outburst Skye put her paws up and replied "I'm sorry Viv jeez! I'm just concerned you know, you thought John had pure intentions after all."

At hearing Skye say that name Vivian went from defensive to angry and her hackles started to raise. "DO. NOT. EVER. MENTION. THAT. NAME. AGAIN. Especially trying to compare that piece of garbage to the single most pure hearted tod I've ever met! Did you not just listen to a word I've said!?"

Skye immediately felt ashamed for bringing John up and her ears flattened to her skull in shame before she replied "you're right V, I'm sorry. It wasn't fair to say that name or to compare him to..Jack. I'm sorry."

Vivan calmed down a tad but her hackles remained raised at the mention and memory of that son of a bitch. She decided to push the conversation forward to help purge the memories that sprung forth. "It's fine Skye, it's fine. Just, seriously. Don't say his name again. Now as I was saying I know for a fact he's not interested in me like that."

"And just how do you know?"

Vivian tapped her nose with a claw. "Scent of course. He did not smell even remotely interested in me like that, and before you say it yes those scents are mostly around for the mating seasons in spring and winter but it's close enough to winter that I would have been able to smell certain pheromones if he was, interested. But I didn't catch a single whiff even when we were hugging."

At hearing they hugged Skye squealed out "you two hugged! You left that part out!"

Vivian flinched at that slip up and quickly replied "yes we hugged. I hugged him twice after he told me what he did for Nicholas and I hugged him after he practically gave me the keys to a new life for me and little Nicky."

"And you say you don't have a crush on him."

Vivian went on the defensive to reassure her friend that she was in fact not crunching on Jack. "I don't Skye! Seriously I don't! I literally just met him yesterday and I won't be hearing or seeing him for a year. There's no way I am crushing on him."

Vivian then went into her mind to debate the matter. " _Right? I_ _can't be, sure he was attractive, and nice... and was treating Nicholas so great... and gave me and my little Nicholas a key to a better life for the both of us...and he made me smile and laugh...and...and...crap maybe I am crushing on him a little."_

Skye rolled her eyes a little at her friends outright denial of not liking the tod. "fine be in denial Viv, but mark my words you like this tod."

Vivian was getting tired of the accusations and was trying to figure out how to shift the conversation back on topic when it clicked. "Fine you want to talk about males how about you tell me about this mystery tod you've been seeing for months and haven't told me anything about."

Now it was Skye's turn to go on the defensive. "Oh! Um...yeah, wait! um..no?...I..ah...We should get back on topic you still haven't answered all of my questions!"

Vivian smirked at her victory and decided to tease her best friend just a little bit more before letting her off of the hook. "Oh come on Skye! You tell me how he takes you on these incredible dates and everything but you won't even tell me his name, and you never smell like him. You know if you're actually dating a vixen or something you can tell me right? Or is he or she just make believe?"

If Skye wasn't flustered before she sure was now. "Oh..I, well..no! No I'm not dating a vixen! His name is Jack and I never smell like him because I use copious amounts of MuskMask because he's not a tod!" Skye's paws instantly flew over her muzzle and her eyes widened like saucers at her slip up, and her cheeks went red.

Vivian was just as shocked ear ears popped up, eyes widened, and she leaned back in her chair a little bit. "Skye...he's not a tod?"

Skye put her head in her paws and dejectedly replied "yesss, he's not a tod. He's a different species."'

Vivian started to get over the initial shock and began gently prodding for more. "Then what species is he Skye?"

Skye burried her head deeper into her paws and whispered out "he's not even a predator, he's a prey."

Vivan's shock came back tenfold but she kept gently prodding. "Okay, he's a prey. What species?"

"He's...he's..he's, he's a Jackrabbit, and I'm a preychaser, an inter, a freak."

After Skye told Vivian that the male she was seeing was not only a prey but a Jackrabbit Skye's head left her paws and she looked up at Vivian. Skye looked like she was about to cry so Vivian wrapped up her best friend in a hug and spoke. "And why didn't you tell me this before Skye? Your like a sister to me did you think I'd be disgusted or ashamed? That'd I'd shun you and call you a bunch of nasty names? Skye love is love!..is it strange that your dating a Jackrabbit, well yes, but stranger things have happened! You shouldn't be ashamed of who you love even if it's considered taboo! I mean the whole orgin story of how predator and prey came to live in harmony is about a predator and a prey being in love!"

Skye ended the hug Vivian had started and wiped her eyes as some tears had escaped them and meekly said "really, you're okay with me being a preychaser?"

"First Skye don't call yourself that, that's what those that won't understand will call you. Now am I okay with you being an inter?..It'll take some getting used to the idea, but love is love. I'd not turn away my own son if somewhere in the future he told me he was in love with say a bunny, and I'm not going to turn you away either. In fact I want to meet him."

Skye wiped her eyes again and then with a little bit of shock in her tone replied "you would? You really want to meet my Jack?"

At Skye's mention of her boyfriends name being Jack something clicked for both vixens. "So wait, his name is Jack.."

"and you just met a tod named Jack.."

"and if we were ever all together.."

"if we called one of their names.."

"they'd both answer.."

"and if you get with Jack the tod.."

"Skye I'm not crushing on him.."

"lies, anyways if you get with them we'd both be dating a male named Jack.."

*sighs "it'd be kinda weird.."

"yep."

Once that little revaluation had been cleared Skye promised to bring Jack over the next time she visited Vivian at home. Then Vivian and Skye went back on topic and Skye continued to question Vivian on what occurred the night before. "So V, back on topic here. He just gave you that check, no strings attached?"

"Oh not on the surface Skye, but in the fine print I think there are."

"and just what are they Viv?"

"Get out of Happytown and get little Nicky out of the public schools, basically I can deny what he laid out for me but what he laid out for Nicholas I can't turn away."

"And why couldn't you turn that away to? Not that you plan on turn away any of it right?"

"Oh heavens no, I'd be crazy not to! No, I could reject what he's given me but my Nicky worked his way into Jack's heart a little I think, and I think Nicky reminds Jack of when he was a kit before it was robbed from him. I also think Jack believes he can save my Nicholas from having to live a life even remotely close to what his was and by extension that has to include me."

"Wow, but what do you mean Jack was robbed of his kit hood?"

Vivian spent the next five minutes explaing what had happened to Jack when he was little and by the end of it both vixens were sporting fresh tears. Skye was dabbing her eyes with a napkin and said "oh my gods that poor, poor tod. I couldn't even begin to imagine the hell he had to live through, and it makes more sense why he's helping you and Nicky." Vivian just nodded her head.

They spent the next half hour talking more Skye getting out all of her questions and what not. Vivian didn't DARE tell Skye about the two pictures she took, those could be for another time, but for now it was time to sort out her thoughts on the tod that just flew into her life like an angel sent from the heavens and start to set in motion the improvements to her and Nicky's lives. So she wrapped up the conversation with Skye, gave her a big hug, and then got in a cab with the destination of Sparrowtail Industires Headquarters.

* * *

 _and done! This chapter quickly turned into my opportunity to set some future things up and I did just that. Some are clearer than others of course and some are just downright obvious._

 _I do hope I did alright with Vivian's portion of this chapter. I'm not 100% happy with how it turned out but as long as y'all like it that's what matter right?_

 _I also wanted to use this chapter as a way to explain that society when Nick and Judy take over the stories will be much more pushed forward as compared to its state in the movie and in the original universe. Like I plan on having Jack Savage and Skye take care of the inter species controversy so Nick and Judy don't have to deal thus adding to the happier side for Nick. It'll be mentioned in my stories how SavageSkye changed things for the better in that regard but won't be entirely prominent as they are not a focal point of the sorties despite being major components, well at least just Skye for now. If someone wishes to make a story focusing on them in this AU scenario feel free to message me about it and I'll lend a hand when needed._

 _It's currently 2:30 in the morning so my brains not on full function so I'm cutting this short. Remember please do review and also I thank everyone that has favorited and followed my story so far I didn't expect this many so early! The support is much appreciated!_

 _Next time on A Father Figure! Vivian begins to start the journey to an improved life for her and Nicholas! That's all your getting I ain't spoiling nothing! (Also I'm falling asleep so I need to wrap this up. Sorry!)_

 _This is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!_


	7. Chapter 5: MTMTEIACT

**_At the advice of one of the voices in my head I now add this disclaimer: I don't own shit but my OCs. I take no ownership of zootopia, etc, etc._**

 _ **I WILL NEVER ABANDON THIS STORY UNTIL IT IS COMPLETE, PERIOD! EVEN IF I LOSE BOTH OF MY HANDS ILL TYPE WITH MY TOES, LOSE THOSE I STILL GOT A NOSE! So yeah, no story abandonment here, nope.**_

 _ **So to all regular readers I have combined chapters 5-8 as they fit together much better than apart, it also cuts down on the number of chapters I have.**_

* * *

Chapter Five: More than meets the eye in a certain tod

Vivian exited the cab as it pulled up to the curb of the massive building that serve at the headquarters for Sparrowtail industries located in the center of Downtown. During the ride over from the Fox In The Hen House Diner Vivian had thought about Jack and had to admit she had a little crush on him, but it's not like it would lead to anything in her mind. For starters Jack was six years younger than her and she was in her mid-twenties, there's no way Jack would want to get with a vixen that much older than him especially since he's only been in adulthood for two years while she's been in it for eight.

Even if Jack could look past the age gap he surely wouldn't want to be tied to a vixen that already had a kit regardless of how much he already liked her Nicky. Plus there was that tinsy tiny fact he had not smelled interested in her at all and he wasn't wearing any sort of MuskMask that would hide it if he was. She was pretty sure he wasn't gay, but she figured maybe he could have a condition that caused him not to omit any sort of scent but the natural fox muskiness, but let's face it any condition that causes that is super rare. Of course Vivian had her own reasons why she didn't think anything would come of the tiny crush but honestly they were just all excuses.

Vivian walked to the front passenger window and payed the cabby, a kind coyote, the fair before turning and looking at the building as the cab pulled away. The building was 50 stories of innovation and hope for not only foxes, but other species that are looked down upon by society. Vivian had researched Sparrowtail Industries and while it was made up of 48% foxes, another 50% was made up of species that struggle in society majority of it being predators, (the company was only 3% prey) coyotes, raccoons, weasels, painted dogs, and maned wolves, were just a few of the species getting their leg up in society.

48 of the floors were separated into each of the three main divisions, the first 16 floors were dedicated to Technologies, floors 17 through 32 were dedicated to Military Technologies, and floors 33 through 48 were dedicated to the Weapons Divison. The 49th floor was exclusively for the Medical Divison as it was a newer addition to the company (a smaller building of thirty stories was being build in Savannah Central to be fully dedicated to Sparrowtail Industries' Medical Divison). The fiftieth floor was solely for the CEO and the many busybodies outside of the specific branches that make the company work like customer services and marketing, the fiftieth floor would be her destination today.

Opening one of the doors meant for medium mammals Vivian entered the building and noticed the bustle of activity. Mammals of all shapes and sizes were walking about wearing all the way from casual Friday to 1500 dollar suits with everything else including some lab coats mixed in-between. Walking up to the front desk area she was greeted by a smartly dressed female raccoon dog with a kind smile who came out to meet her a few feet from the desk with paws clasped in front of her.

The smartly dressed raccoon dog stuck out one of her paws and greeted Vivian. "Hello ma'am welcome to Sparrowtail Industries Headquarters. My name is Sarah, do you have any sort of appointment with any of our more senior associates or are you visiting any of our many employees?"

Vivian took the Sarah's paw and shook it, a little taken aback by her cheery attitude. "Umm hello Sarah. No I'm not here for anything like that. I'm here to apply for a position."

Sarah's smile brightened at that and she exclaimed at a respectable volume "Oh splendid! Just splendid! I'm so excited you decided to come in personally to apply! Between you and me it gives you a serious leg up against anyone else trying to apply for the same position. Well I can definitely help you with that, just tell me the specific position and division your applying for and I'll get you the correct form!"

Vivian simply replied with just a tinge of nervousness "I'm here to apply for the CEO Secretary position."

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise and she replied, "Oh! Going for a big leap there aren't we!? I'm afraid you have to already be established as a secretary here and then apply to upgrade to that position, but I can get you a regular secretary application for all of our divisions! I'm sure a driven vixen such as yourself will definitely get hired by at least one, but I have a feeling they'd all want you to join their team!"

Vivian looked a little downtrodden at that explanation and was going to at least concede and apply for a regular secretary position when she noticed a glint of realization cross Sarah's face. "That is ma'am, unless you happen to be Vivian Wilde?"

Vivian's expression perked up again and she quickly nodded. "Yes I am Vivian Wilde."

Sarah smiled brightly again and exclaimed "ok then forgot everything I just said it doesn't apply to you! I had instructions to escort you up to Mr. Wolfgang's office whenever you showed up to apply so he can interview you personally! Follow me!"

Sarah then began leading Vivian towards a elevator separated from the rest. As they walked Sarah began to speak. "You know Ms. Wilde.."

Vivian shook her head a little and interrupted Sarah before she could continue "please just call me Vivian, Sarah."

Sarah smiled at her, nodded and then continued speak. "You know Vivian, you must have a friend in a very high place."

Vivian tilted her head a little and replied "how do you mean?"

"I mean that there's only one mammal who could have another mammal completely skip all the procedural steps of the hiring process, tell mammals to expect one mammal to walk in and to have them immediately brought up to the top floor using the personal CEO elevator, and it's not the CEO."

Vivian was now even more confused and she tilted her head more in question. "If not the CEO then who?"

"Well no one here besides Mr. Wolfgang knows his name but he might as well be the CEO. The first time the mammal was going to walk through those same doors you walked through, three years ago Mr. Wolfgang came down here personally and said " _there will be a mammal coming in today. Tall male red fox, unique deep green eyes, scar left side of neck. This mammal is not to be stopped, bothered, questioned, ANYTHING. He is to be allowed to move wherever he pleases without any hinderance whatsoever. He will mostly likely be armed and that is completely fine, NO ONE try to disarm him. He's an incredible asset to this company so NO, ONE, FUCK, WITH, HIM."_

After a brief pause she continued. "Sure enough 12:30 rolls around and through those doors walked in a VERY tall red fox tod that looked to be about 21 with deep green eyes in a super rare shade and a scar on the left side of its neck. He was sharply dressed in an all black suit with a white undershirt and see that coat hanger there in the corner? (*Sarah stops and points to an coat hanger in the far right corner by the door*) that's that tod's hanger no one else is aloud to put something on it per the CEO's instructions. Anyways, he was also wearing black dress shoes which was a little odd. Well the tod strolls over calmly to the hanger takes off his suit jacket and hangs it there exposing a black 1911 pawgun in a holster on his right hip and a two-magazine holder above his back left pocket. The tod then calmly rolled up his under shirts sleeves past the elbows."

Sarah takes another brief pause to stop walking for a group of foxes walking past, a few saying greetings to Sarah as they walked by. Once the were past Sarah continued. "He then walks over to the CEO's private elevator which is keycard and password protected, pulls out a keycard and swipes it, then enters a code on the keypad and DING! The elevator opens and he steps in. Two hours later he re-emerges from the same elevator and exits the building, twenty minutes later Mr. Wolfgang announces out of the blue we will be expanding the company into the the medical field. That tod has walked into this building three separate times at exactly 12:30 doing the same thing each time, wearing the exact same things, leaving at the exact same time...and every time he enters and leaves something big happens. Only that mammal could pull strings like this, so I reiterate, you have a friend in a very high place."

This information vexed Vivian as they got into the CEO elevator. " _I thought Jack said he was just a close friend of the CEO Mr. Wolfgang and a majority stock holder? Was Jack lying in a way? and if so why? It doesn't make sense for him to lie about something like this...Just who are you Jack, and what else are you hiding?_ " Vivian now had a side goal to her main goals today, she was going to try and find out as much as she could about Jack, she wanted to know just what kind of a mammal he was.

After about a minute of nothing but the sound of the elevator thrumming as it went up Vivian watched Sarah pull out her phone and send of a quick message before pocketing it again and looking over her left shoulder at Vivian. Sarah then asked "I was right though, right? About that tod being the mammal pulling the strings to get you in here?"

Vivian nodded a little in confirmation and replied "yes you were correct Jack is the one pulling the strings."

Vivian realized here slip up when she saw Sarah's eyes widen before she belted out questions rapid fire excitingly. "Ohmygoshyouknowhisname!?hisnamesJack!?whoishe!?what'shelike!?areyoutwotogether!?whydoeshelooksoyoung!?ishethatyoung!?ishe..."

Vivian hated to interrupt her but she was shooting out questions way faster then Vivian could process. "Woah slow down there girl! Yes his name is Jack but if he didn't want anyone to know it here then you tell NO ONE got it?" Sarah nodded her head quickly several times before Vivian continued. As for the rest of your questions some I don't know, others I won't answer, the only one I will answer is no we aren't together."

When Sarah opened her mouth to ask something else Vivian quickly said "Nah-ah!" and waggled a finger at her. "No more questions about Jack please." Sarah harrumphed and closed her maw before nodding with a pouty look upon her face. As Sarah turned back to face the elevator doors the elevator pinged and the doors opened, the had reached the fiftieth floor.

Sarah exited the elevator first followed by Vivian, as Vivian exited the elevator she immediately began to take in her surroundings before she almost walked straight into a wolf, her only saving grace was the wolf clearing his threat to grasp her attention. Stopping just shy of smacking her snout into the wolf's chest she took a step back to look up and apologize when she realized she didn't just almost walk into a potential co-worker but her potential boss. Demetri Wolfgang had left his office to great her personally.

Vivian's ears went red in embarrassment when she saw Demetri's look of amusement and she quickly apologized. "I'm so sorry Mr. Wolfgang, I wasn't watching where I was going. I am.."

She would have continued but stopped when Demetri raised a paw with an amused smile still affixed on his muzzle. "I know exactly who you are Ms. Wilde, and no worries, I'm the CEO but when I walked into this building for the first time I was like a kit in a toy store, looking every which way." He then turned to Sarah who had an equally amused look upon her face and said "thank you for bringing Ms. Wilde up here Sarah, and for telling me on the way up. I think that's all I need from you for now here, but MT division needs a voice on the holster they've been working on, it failed, again. You'll be my voice."

Sarah shook her head when she heard that MT division's biometric holster that they'd been working on the past two months failed again and said "Really? Again? Well if your 'asset' (Sarah makes air quotations and glances at Vivian),would lend a paw since you said he was a wiz with biometric systems MT wouldn't be having so much trouble with it."

"I know I know. I've tried to get him to before but he's stubborn about it. Besides he's...on a vacation, a really really long vacation."

The look on Sarah's face told that she didn't believe that at all. Sarah cocked her hips, placed her paws upon them, and raised an eyebrow. "Really, he's on vacation. That's what your gonna use? One of the oldest and weakest lies possible, really?" Vivian was watching the whole exchange now her face becoming one of amusement as she watched the tanuki and wolf interact, they almost seemed like a couple to her, and Vivian had to admit they would make an adorable couple. Demetri ears pinned back and he started to splutter a little, totally flustered and blushing slightly.

Sarah decided to let her boss off the hook and said "alright Demetri I'll head down, but you'll eventually have to tell your COO, a.k.a me, about Mr. 'asset'."

Vivian and Demetri watched as Sarah walked the short distance back to the CEO elevator and go through the motions to use it and entered. As the doors shut she kept a firm gaze on Demetri with a smile that said "your busted". After the doors shut Demetri and Vivian turned to each other, tides turned with Demetri now being the flustered one. Vivian was tempted to tease the wolf but considering how said wolf was her potential employer she settled for a formal greeting.

Sticking her right paw out and smiled, "Vivian Wilde." Demetri was grateful for the lifeline and took her paw and shook it. "Demetri Wolfgang, Jack's already told me a little about you. Why don't we go into my office and start the interview?" Vivian just nodded and began following Demetri the short distance to his office. His office was obscured by a giant oak door with multiple doors inserted to account for mammals of different sizes. In front of the doors to the right was a simple but elegant, modern desk and chair with the desk having all the necessities for a secretary to have.

Stopping at the desk Demetri gestured to it and said "Well Ms. Wilde this is where you'll be working, all of it is yours. Here you'll be able to manage all the little things that will keep me on track and stop driving me crazy trying to remember and work out all while trying to run this company."

Vivian's eyes widened when Demetri said this is where she would be working and she interjected, "I'm sorry Mr. Wolfgang but you haven't even interviewed me yet, so this isn't my workspace, unless there's something I'm missing?"

Demetri, who had already turned and started to walk towards the doors to is office, stopped mid-step and turned back to her with a puzzled look upon his muzzle. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

Vivian tilted her head in question. "Tell me what?"

Demetri rolled his eyes a little and shook his head before saying, "Ms. Wilde this interview is just a formality and will pretty much just be us having a conversation and go over some details, the jobs already yours."

Now Vivian was shell shocked. "What do you mean it's already mine?"

Demetri smiled a little and began explaining. "I mean it's already yours, if not for my own reasons but because a certain tod very vehemently stated you were be hired, non-negotiable. Now for my owns reasons, to start, he's known you for a day. A SINGLE day, and in one day you and your son affected him so much that he's pulling a complete 360 on where his life was going. You see, Jack has been in a very dark place for a very long time, basically living as a recluse, for instance the last time he talked to me about anything other than business excluding last night was over a year ago, a YEAR. Then he meets you and your son, and it's like a switch was flipped. That makes you someone very remarkable, and I'd be crazy not to hire you!"

Vivian's expression dimmed a little when Demetri said that Jack was in, or had been in a dark place, but thinking on it in her mind and heart she knew that it was true. But she could never really fathom the depths of the dark. Because other than him telling her about what happened to his parents and just a glimpse of what he experienced at the orphanage he was sent to he didn't say anything else at all that personal. He answered simple questions, but he mostly kept the focus on her and her Nicky, allowing her to talk. Sure he was engaging, and would add some his own lines in, but for the most part Jack to her seemed just content to listen to her, of course excluding the bantering session they had which she paws down beat him, though Jack denied the fact vehemently when she claimed her triumph.

Realizing she had zoned out for a moment she focused back in on Demetri who was patiently for her to focus back in, because what Vivian didn't realize is her expression dimmed more than a little, a frown had shown on her muzzle and her ears flattened against her skull as she looked down and away from Demetri in contemplation. Demetri smiled a little internally at her expression because it meant that Vivian cared for Jack already, a fact that warmed his heart a little.

Allowing her that moment to himself Demetri took the time to address the buzz his phone made, pulling it out he saw it was a text from Sarah saying " _I like her... so, if you don't hire her, I'm going to shave your tail. xxx._ " Reading that made him smile externally and chuckle internally before pocketing his phone as it seemed Vivian was exiting her thoughts on a certain tod and looking back at him.

Demetri took the reins to get the conversation back on track as he moved to the door in the door meant for medium sized mammals and opened it saying. "Let's take this conversation into the office, I don't want anyone hearing about Jack's business. Plus we have this 'interview' (he makes air quotations) to get done and you get the tremendous joy of doing, pause for effect...paperwork."

Vivian only nodded as Demetri turned and opened the door meant for medium sized mammals and they both walked in, Demetri holding the door open for Vivian and closing it once she was inside. Vivian looked around the office and noticed it was all modern like the rest of the buildings decor was and had an amazing view of the city, she could even see her next destination, ZPD Precinct One from the window. The door was really the only thing that seemed out of place, and as if reading her mind Demetri said "I've been meaning to get a more modern door, but it's there for privacy per Jack's request. Also I had to pander to his paranoia so there's a half-inch of titanium plating with a half inch of soundproofing material throughout the whole door."

Hearing that once again that something was in this building per Jack's request which she assumed were more like orders she couldn't keep her curiosity contained as she took a seat in one of the incredibly comfy chairs set in front of Demetri's desk. Once Demetri was seated Vivian couldn't keep her desires for answers at bay any longer and she blurted out "okay what's the deal? How can Jack tell you, the CEO of this company to do all of these things!? Just who is he here, because he can't just be a 'majority stock holder!'"

Demetri was a little surprised at the outburst but soon just shook his head and then said, "he didn't tell you much about himself did he?"

Vivian shook her head and said "no not really. When we spoke he deflected and kept focus on me, he told me general things about himself and that's it."

Her answer caused Demetri to shake his head again and he muttered "typical" before focusing in completely on Vivian. He began to think about what exactly to tell her about Jack. Telling her that Jack was once one of the deadliest assassins on the planet was definitely out, but after a moment he finally decided on just what he'd tell her. According to his old friend David and from what he'd seen himself getting Jack to open up to mammals about himself was like pulling teeth, so Jack could be mad at him later because this vixen deserved to know some things about Jack Hunter.

"Ms. Wilde, no. Vivian, I am going to tell you some things about Jack. But first, let me say this, Jack Hunter is an extremely complicated and complex mammal more so than I think he even understands. He also has more bad baggage than should be possible for a mammal his age, this makes him opening up about things, telling things about himself...well you'd be better off trying to lift an elephant with one paw tied behind your back. But for one reason or another it seems like he wants to tell you things, the evidence being the fact that he actually willingly talked to you for extended periods of time, and probably the longest times in years. But as him opening up is so difficult for him, I believe he neglected to tell things that even though you two literally just met, are entitled to hear."

After a pause he continued. "For starters, he's not a majority stock holder. He's THEE majority stock holder and by all rights the true CEO of this company...because he's also the founder. When he was 14 he came to me with the idea of this company and he wanted me to run it. Of course I naturally wanted him to but he laid out some good points and I finally conceded on the condition that he had a paw in everything this company does to which he agreed. So the best way I could describe just what he does at this company and why he can request all the these things is because he's the true CEO and I'm just the COO, the secondary COO at that."

Vivian was absolutely floored at this information, hearing at just the age at 14 he literally CREATED Sparrowtail Industries, she could hardly fathom it. She knew that he had a big part in this company, certainly more than he said, but the founder and true CEO? All she could utter out was "how?"

Demetri thought about how best to answer her question and finally settled on telling her about Jack's brain. "Well Vivian, let's just say Jack's brain is...unique. To start his IQ is 181 making him by IQ test standards one of the smartest mammals on the planet. Test aside his intelligence is obvious if you just watch him closely, his brain doesn't work like yours or mine or the majority of mammals I'd wager...the way he sees things, it's like his brain dissects information in a split second and he's reacting in the next second. I once saw him flick on a pair of sunglasses as he exited a restaurant we were at and two seconds later he comes back in with the idea of contacts that work like prescription glasses and sunglasses that dim to the environment and then he proceeded to put down the basics and a blueprint on a friggin napkin!"

After another brief pause he continued. "There's also the fact that he has a very rare condition called hyperthymesia. What it does is it causes his brain to deem all of the information it takes in as important information and it becomes permanently stored. In other words, he remembers EVERYTHING. Every single thing he's ever experienced he's remembered with one hundred percent clarity, so anything that's truly knowledgeable that he sees is logged permanently in his brain. With his perfect memory retention it allows him to learn a bunch of skills very quickly...so to sum up just how he's done all of this (Demetri gestures to all around him) is because his brain is like a super computer."

Demetri allowed Vivian a few moments to absorb all the information he had just given her before continuing. "Now that I've told you these things, I'm going to give you a word of warning. DO NOT let him know you know these things and if he finds out DON'T tell him I told you, I like my tail perfectly fluffy as it is and not clean shaven."

Pausing, Demetri decided to ask Vivian if she truly wanted to get to know Jack, so far he was assuming she did based on how she was acting regarding him but Demetri wanted confirmation. "Now Vivian let me ask you a question. Do you want to get to know Jack, and I mean TRULY get to know him?"

Vivian was still trying to sort through all of the information in head when he asked her that question, she took a moment to think on it before answering with unwavering certainty "Yes, I do truly want to get to know Jack. I may have just met him once but he changed me and my sons lives so much in just that one meeting and that reason alone should be enough. But he was so shrouded in mystery, I want to unravel those mysteries and get to know Jack, if I can."

Hearing Vivian's vehement reply caused a smile to appear on his muzzle, maybe this vixen was just what Jack needed to finally start to heal. "Well Vivian if you really want him to open up and tell you things letting him know you already know these things about him will just make him slam the door he cracked open just a little bit for you shut..."

Demetri was about to continue when the phone on his desk started ringing, only Sarah, the heads of each division, head of security, or head of maintenance, and his secretary could cause the phone to ring so it was always important. Looking at the phone he saw it was a call from Sarah, looking up at Vivian he said "sorry got to take this" and then picked up the phone.

"Sarah I'm currently in the middle of an interview, so why are you calling?"

"I know, I know. But the holster didn't just fail...It caught on fire."

With the most deadpan expression and tone Demetri replied "what?"

"Yeah this time it caught on fire, and some genius decided to try making a rhino sized holster this time, so..."

Demetri immediately smacked a paw to his face, "so the sprinkler system turned on?"

"Yep."

*he begins massaging a temple. "*sighs, isolated?"

"Just test lab three but since the mammal decided to get a snack and left the lab, and the holster was huge..."

"There's a bunch of water?"

"There's a bunch of water."

*groans. "Dock Meeko's for the next three weeks, have him help maintenance clean up his mess, or better yet have him do all of it..And sideline the biometric holster."

"Already sidelined, and just how do you know it's Meeko?"

"It is him isn't it?"

"Obviously, who else would leave during an extremely crucial test to go get a snack?"

*groans "I'd fire him if he wasn't a 20 year old genius with weapons tech."

"I'd fire him anyways."

*chuckles "I don't doubt that. But if there's nothing else I need to get back to the interview."

"Right! No that was it, and remember what I said, bye-bye!"

Hanging up the phone Demetri let out a long sigh while massaging his temples before looking back up at Vivian. "Sorry about that, the job of a CEO is never done it seems."

Vivian just nodded in understanding and said "No worries, I understand how tedious it must be to run a multi-million dollar company."

Demetri smiled at her understanding and replied "you have no idea. Now as I was saying, if you truly want Jack to open up to you and tell you about himself TRUTHFULLY, your gonna have to work for it. First, interact with him as much as possible. If he didn't give you his number get it, if he did use it, get him used to talking to you. Secondly, put pressure on him if it seems like he's deflecting but only on minor stuff, if it's a major subject he'll clam up, but in time as he opens up more and more he should come to you with that information about himself. Thirdly, as you talk more and more start to include details and stories about your own life, especially if it's humorous, if you get him laughing he's more likely to share something about himself. The rest is up to you to get him to open up, but if any mammal on this planet can do it, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be you."

Vivian was still trying to absorb all of the things Demetri had just told her, and it was a lot to process. " _Jack's technically smarter than Einstein, he has some brain condition I've never heard of that makes him never forget anything and remember everything, he's the FOUNDER of Sparrowtail Industries, he can order the friggin CEO around because he's the TRUE CEO, in one day me and my son apparently effected him so much he's apparently completely changing his whole freaking life!..I, this is just to much, and this isn't the time nor place to freak out about it Vivian, breathe...calm down and try to find some sense of normalcy right now, and...I can't find any...okay, just breathe. Breathings good...Gods I hope at least on the outside I don't look like a mess..."_

She totally did. To Demetri it looked like she was mentally overloaded one second, calming down the next, and then going towards what he was assuming might be a minor freak out, to trying to rein things back in, and then repeating all within a matter of about a minute. Her ears were practically flapping up and down like they were trying to take flight. It would have been amusing if it didn't involve a moderate mental overload of sorts. He was tempted to try and get her attention to maybe snap her out of it but quickly decided against it. He'd let it run its course, besides it kinda helped reinforce that this vixen was just what Jack needed in his life, so he decided to wait patiently.

 _"Okay, okay, deep even breaths. I just need to push forward, ask Mr. Wolfgang some more questions about Jack, and then ask general questions about my new job and do the paperwork required, and just be glad it'll be nothing like the endless paperwork the police have to go through."_

(Somewhere not so far away, a particular water buffalo was lightly banging his head into his desk and groaning as it reached his fourth hour of paperwork.) Demetri noticed that it seemed Vivian finally got her thoughts sorted and was coming out of her own head, her features started to relax and her ears returned to their normal position and she was looking at him again. As she finally opened her mouth to speak he could have never anticipated what she would say next.

"So Mr. Wolfgang.."

"I think just Demetri is fine until your officially on the clock."

"ok, Demetri. So you say Jack has this condition called hyperthymessia.."

"hyperthymesia."

"Right hyperthymesia, which causes him to remember everything and forget nothing."

"right."

"Does he happen to have any sort of condition that would make it so he doesn't excrete any sort of pheromones?" Vivian didn't one hundred percent know why that was the particular question she wanted to know the answer to, but the question was in the air now.

The question definitely caught Demetri off guard, he didn't know why she asked the question and he wracked his brain to see if he knew an answer to it when something clicked. "Ah actually I do think he mentioned he had a condition that made it so he didn't excrete any sort of pheromones, and that it led to many a disappointed sign thrown his way. Don't know why your asking and quite frankly I'm not sure I want to be on the topic of pheromone excretion, so I'll just go ahead and move us forward yeah?"

Vivian's ears and cheeks immediately flushed red in embarrassment and she quickly nodded her head in approval. While she wanted to ask some more questions about Jack her immediate question blew that opportunity right out of the water so she just nodded instead. Demetri on his part was glad Vivian didn't try and push for some more questions to ask about Jack, there was only so much he could tell her about Jack and her last question made him look uncomfortable. So Demetri decided to get into the business part if this "interview."

Opening a drawer in his desk and reaching in Demetri grabbed the stack of paperwork Vivian would need to fill out and pawed it to her. "Here you go Vivian you need to fill out these forms entirely and then sign them in the correct places. Once your done I'll look them over and then there will be the matter of your pay and start date." Vivian simply nodded again and took the forms from Demetri and the offered pen and began filling them out.

The first few forms were the general hiring forms, current residence, were you ever convicted of a felony, education level, college attended, prior employment, etc. All were easy fill ins except for residence as it was about to change very very soon so she left it blank. The rest of the forms were more unique to Sparrowtail Industries but just as easy to fill out. It took about fifteen minutes to fill out all of the forms and then sign in the appropriate places, once she was finally done she pawed them back to Demetri who immediately began looking them over.

It didn't take long for him to notice she left the current residence slot blank and he was quick to point it out. "You left your current residence blank you know."

Vivian just nodded in confirmation and replied "yes, well after I finish here I'm making a quick stop to precinct one. After that I'm going to go see if I can rent out a new place for me and my son, so since my residence is about to change soon I left it blank."

Demetri nodded a few times and then quickly guessed Jack probably pointed her in the direction of the Sable Ridge apartment complex and decided to see if he was right. "Let me guess, 1955 Cyprus Grove Lane, Sable Ridge Apartments."

Vivian was surprised at Demetri's corrected guess and confirmed it. "Yes that's where I'm hoping to get a place at, how did you know?"

Demetri simply answered "It's the only place Jack would fully trust to send you to for living. He knows the wolf that owns the place personally as do I, because technically the company owns the building. In fact majority of those that live there work here, so it was easy to put together. I'll just put that down as there's no possible way that old wolf will say no." he then quickly thought " _Also because Jack lives there, but probably didn't tell you. Sneaky Jack, sneaky_." Demetri quuickly pulled out a pen of his own and filled in the information, when it came to the slot for the apartment number on a whim he just put down Jack's apartment number 16A, he'd change the information once she finally did move there.

Quickly looking over the rest of the forms he found everything to be in order and put them back in his desk, he'd put them on file later. "Alright, now's the time to discuss pay."

Vivian quickly spoke up as she already knew this information. "Starting pay is 25,000 I know."

Demetri rose an eyebrow at that and replied "not even close. Who in the world told you that?

Vivian was surprised at hearing that she was wrong, especially considering who told her that it was 25.K. "Jack did."

Demetri immediately rolled his eyes at her response. "Of course he did. No, that's the starting pay for NORMAL secretaries, and you're not a normal secretary. You're the secretary to the *makes air quotations* 'CEO'. Your pay is 53,375 a year."

Vivian's eyes widened and she exclaimed. "That's a little over DOUBLE the pay!"

Demetri smiled at that and replied "well you're going to be doing DOUBLE the work as a normal secretary here, so double the pay. BUT, since on your forms you are going to be going to college, once you get accepted in that will give you a 1.5x increase in pay, which means you'll really be earning just a little bit over 80 grand a year."

If Vivian's jaw could hit the floor, it would have. 25,000 was already double what she was making working three jobs, and she was about to start making over 6,500 dollars a month for her and her son!? Not to mention it being on top of Jack's 165,000 which is he most money she'd ever had!? It had to be a dream. But Demetri quickly reminded her that it was in fact real.

"I can see that expression of utter disbelief Vivian, but this is REAL, and it's definitely not a joke. That is the standard pay for the CEO secretary position multiplied by 1.5. Sparrowtail Industries encourages all employees to seek a better education and gain new knowledge, but as college is so gods damn expensive on top of normal necessities, we give pay increases to help ensure that no one here struggles while they are attending college. And we award employees when they finish with a PERMANENT two times pay increase regardless of position, and before you even ask, yes we does his because Jack said so. But honestly this is probably one of the things I would have done regardless, and because of this policy, of those who don't already have college degrees 87% are working towards obtaining one."

Vivian honestly wasn't surprised that the pay increases for those seeking higher education was Jack's doing as one of the few things he had said about himself is that he had 6 degrees in varying subjects, and she was beginning to get a grasp on everything that had happened so far, but she still pinched herself just in case.

Demetri looked at a clock on one of the walls and took notice of the time, he was due for a meeting in about five minutes, so it was time to wrap this up. While he wanted Vivian to start working as soon as possible to help him keep his sanity he was aware she needed to get all her affairs in order first and get settled into her soon to be new home. Not to mention she probably needed some more time to wrap her head around everything that was happening in her life so quickly, so he decided she'd start in a week.

"Alright Vivian, while I hate to cut this short or anything I'm due for a meeting in five minutes and I technically have everything I need from you, but... oh!" Demetri wanted to smack himself for forgetting about Vivian's son Nicholas, "I'm terribly sorry I almost forgot about your sons endorsement!" He quickly handed her a card with his personal cell number in it and said "here, call me when your going to Paragon Grove to enroll Nicholas, I'll show up there personally to endorse and sponsor him, and the answer to your foremost and obvious question is Jack naturally."

Vivian smiled and replied "naturally, of course, and thank you."

Demetri stood and smiled back replying "No, thank you. I've hated seeing Jack the way he was, but he's changing and it's because of you and your son."

Vivian stood as well and stuck out a paw which Demetri quickly took and shook before Vivian turned to make her leave, opening the door she paused and turned back another question on her lips when she saw Demetri facepaw and hold up his other. After a moment he said "yep, when do you start I'm assuming was the question? You start a week from today, 9:30 am." Vivian closed her mouth, nodded and bid Demetri farewell before exiting and closing the door, turning just in time to almost walk straight into Sarah.

Vivian groaned internally at almost walking straight into yet another mammal. She went to belt out another apology but Sarah simply held up a paw and said "you got a lot going on in your mind, I can tell, so it's fine. I'm here to take you back down and walk you out."

Vivian was thankful that Sarah was there to see here out, she was honestly starting to wonder how she was to get back down to the ground floor as she had no clue where the other elevators were. Nodding in thanks she walked with Sarah the short distance to the Executive elevator and after Sarah went through the necessary steps the elevator chimed and opened. Stepping in Vivian was curious of something so as they both turned around Vivian subtly sniffed Sarah, under the perfume Sarah was wearing Vivian could smell Demetri. There wasn't a smell of intimacy or a mark but Sarah did smell more like Demetri than she should.

While Vivian was lost in her thoughts trying to figure out if Sarah and Demetri were a couple Sarah took notice of Vivian's concentration and saw her nose sniff towards her. "I can see the gears turning in your head Vivian so why don't you just ask the question you're wondering about me?"

Vivian was surprised that Sarah spoke up but her curiosity for her answer had her pushing on. "Ok, so are you and Demetri a..."

"Are me and him a couple? Yes. Yes we are. Going on two years now."

Vivian was happy to hear her earlier suspicions turned out to be true. "I knew it! I had a feeling you to were by the way you two interacted with each other earlier." Looking at Sarah now another question appeared in Vivian's mind, Sarah looked a lot younger than Demetri. But before she could ask the question though Sarah once again beat her to the punch.

"I bet your wondering what the age difference is huh?"

"..If you don't mind?"

"I'm 32 and he's 42."

Something sparked at hearing that Sarah's wolf was ten years older than she was, and it led to her next question. "You didn't mind getting with an older male?"

"No not at all. Just because he's ten years my senior doesn't change a single aspect of the relationship honestly, plus I get the added bonus of using old mammal jokes on him. Besides, he acts like a pup most of the time anyways."

Hearing how Sarah was so unaffected by the fact that Demetri was ten years an older mammal was a little surprising to her, and for reasons unknown she asked the next question, almost like she was hoping and not hoping that under circumstances it wouldn't have happened. "What if he had already had a kid?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow at how the questioning was turning and replied "If he 'had' a kid? He does have one, a daughter who's eight, and it changed absolutely nothing, it just meant I get to have a wonderful daughter a lot sooner without having to get knocked up, and yes I see her as my daughter regardless if I have a ring on my finger or not."

With Sarah's vehement statement a battle started in her mind. " _Makes a six year age difference with a kit already not seem so bad."_

 _"..woah woah brain! Where did that come from!?"_

 _"We both know that's why you asked you were curious if age differences some how mattered, which in case you were wondering, it doesn't. You're concerned that one of your main reasons Jack would never get with you would fall flat, but at the same time hopeful it does fall through because deep down you want to get together with him. And, hearing that Sarah is dating a wolf ten years her senior who already has a daughter with no issues pokes a bunch of holes in that excuse/reason."_

 _"Great I'm talking to myself inside my own head."_

 _"No your subconscious decided to knock some sense into you over Jack, and you just deflected. Face it, you want Jack to want to be with you, but you never think it'll happen so you've come up with a bunch of bullshit reasons of why he wouldn't without truly knowing his character, and as your subconscious I say that that's uncalled for. Now that I've gotten my two cents in focus back on the real world Sarah is staring."_

Blinking several times Vivian focused back in on the real world and pushed what just happened as yet another thing to deal with later. Sarah on the other paw was staring and just patiently waiting for Vivian to come out of her head. She had a feeling why Vivian was asking all those questions and it involved a certain fox tod named Jack. She was tempted to ask but she didn't want to pry to much to soon so she settled for a subject change that involved her own question she was curious about.

"So Vivian, did you get the job? Or do I have to go shave my wolf's tail?"

Vivian laughed at the mental image of Demetri with a shaved tail before replying, "while I would love to see that it's not necessary, I start in exactly one week."

* * *

 _ **Done!**_

 _ **What seriously ConcernedF0X!? Your stopping it here!? Why yes, yes I am. I must prepare thee for the bane of all readers, cliffhangers! *lightning flashes* plus this is a minor one and you can probably deduce what's going to transpire next without general mystery sooo...**_

 _ **Next time on A Father Figure! Vivian gets to meet the water buffalo who's still hitting his head on his desk and learn something new about Jack!**_

 _ **This is TheConcernedF0X signing off!**_


	8. Chapter 6: Jack did What!

_Welcome ladies and gents to Chapter nine. It took longer than expected due to it being re-written several times as I tried to get the flow right. I also was writing combat scenes that will appear in coming chapters including one that won't even take place in Jack's first tour. I appreciate your patience and not being impaled by pitchforks._

 _Hellion-you made me spit out my drink laughing with your review._

 _Story. Writer. 2015-a very cute story? I mean yeah there's some cute moments, but there's also neck breaking, guns blazing, knife using, gritty, bloody, action. And if thats cute, well I may need to step up my game._

 _50 followers and 36 favs already!? Damn! My story hasn't even reached double digits in chapters! This is just amazing. Thank you all so much._

 _REVIEW! Please. I need all the feedback I can get._

 _Alright enough of my jabberin. Story time!_

* * *

Chapter Nine: Jack did what!? Part Two

They were nearing the ground floor now, it had grown silent after Vivian's announcement she started in one week. Sarah had giddily reacted and exclaimed "that's great I knew you'd get hired! But, I bet a certain tod would have been furious with my wolf if he hadn't, am I right?"

Vivian had just shaken her head and replied "your probably right." She didn't want to divulge to Sarah that in fact she was pretty much one hundred percent right, that would only have led to more questions about Jack. Sarah had smirked at her reply and said nothing more.

As they grew closer to reaching the ground level another question was formulating in Vivian's head, not about Jack or related to him, but pertaining to Sarah and Demetri's relationship. "Hey Sarah I have somewhat of another personal question for you."

Sarah turned and looked at Vivian. "Hm, and what might it be?"

"You see my friend is in a interspecies relationship, and she keeps it completely hidden. Even from me, she only told me because she slipped up. So I was wondering if you and Demetri are public about your realationship, or do you keep it under wraps?"

"We keep it under wraps. Well, more specifically I do. If it were up to Demetri he'd shout his love for me from the rooftops and show me off to the world, his words exactly. But it's not because I'm afraid of public opinion, the public can kiss my furry ass. It's mostly for work ethic I guess, I don't want to deal with a bunch of mammals accusing me of banging my way to the postion I am at now."

Vivian understood Sarah's answer but felt that she was lying a little about not caring about public opinion, but she didn't press. "I think I understand what you're saying Sarah, sadly not much I can use to give my friend a confidence boost about being a little more open with her relationship."

Sarah nodded and decided she'd tell how her and Demetri's families took it. "Well me and my wolf's families know about our relationship. My parents were suprised but super supportive after meeting him. His mom was super supportive, step-dad too, but his father all but disowned him, but his fathers a piece of shit which is why his mother divorced him so his opinion doesn't mean jack shit...oh and the pack's opinion varies but his moms the alpha of the pack so what she says goes."

Sarah's speech had sped up when she mentioned Demetri's father before going back to normal. It was a little to much informaition in Vivian's opinion but it begged the question if Skye had even told her parents about her Jackrabbit and swore to ask about it later. "Hm, well I don't know if my friend's even told her parents yet. But I think I have enough now to give her a confidence boost."

Sarah smiled at that and replied. "Well then I'm glad I could be of some assistance."

After another minute the elevator dinged and finally reached ground level. Both Sarah and Vivian exiting with Sarah offering to walk Vivian out which she agreed to. Once they were at the entrance Sarah stopped Vivian and said, "hey give me your phone and I'll put my number in it so we can chat and I can give you some advice about keeping your male in line.

Vivian blushed as she handed Sarah her phone and more mumbled than said "Jack isn't 'my male' and he won't ever be."

As Sarah took the phone and began to put her contact info in she looked up with a raised eyebrow at that statement. "What, are you a lesbian or something?"

Vivian's eyes widened and she quickly said "no! No I am not. It's just...I don't think he would ever...I mean it would...I..."

Sarah's other eyrebrow joined the first and she held up her free paw to stop Vivian. "Ok this is definitely a conversation to have at a later date, at a place that serves alcohol. So we'll get together Friday or Saturday, and maybe bring your friend you mentioned. But you clearly need to vent or something about this tod. Okay?"

Vivian didn't feel like forumatling words so she simply nodded her head and took her phone back and pocketed it.

Sarah nodded at her once and said "text me which day works for you. See you later Vivian."

Vivian simply waved as Sarah turned and walked back towards the elevator. Exiting Vivian decided she would walk to Precinct One as it wasn't to far away, and with it being close to rush hour anyways it'd be quicker walking anyways.

Entering the Precinct for the first time Vivian couldn't help but look around the atrium. Once she had her fill of the view she began walking towards the front desk where a..portly cheetah oddly enough was posted there. As she walked in further she noticed the glances and looks she was getting from the officers milling about in the atrium. Most were of idle curiosity and a few were of disdain, distrust, or straight up hate due to her species, but surprisingly fewer than she'd anticipated.

As she grew nearer to the desk the cheetah took notice of her and cut off the conversation he was having with a wolf officer to focus his attention on her. She stopped just shy of the desk so the cheetah could still see her without leaning over to much and waved. The cheetah beamed at her and said in a incredibly bubbly voice "Hi I'm Chief Dispatcher Benjamin Clawhauser how can I be of assistance?"

A little taken back about the cheetah's cheeriness she took a second before replying. "Yes hi, I would like to speak to Lieutenant Adonis Bogo."

Clawhauser, knowing that Bogo was currently doing important paperwork (and possibly banging his head into his desk) shook his head and replied, "sorry ma'am but he's currently indisposed at the moment, and I don't know when he'll be available. I could perhaps leave a message for him?"

Unbeknownst to Vivian and Clawhauser, the wolf officer that Clawhauser had been talking to was tuned into the conversation and staring intently at Vivian wondering why she looked familiar, and what she said next made it click.

"Oh well that's okay, but perhaps I could speak to Officer James Wolford instead?"

Realization dawned on Wolford's face as he realized that the vixen he was currently looking at must be the mother of the kit that he had met yesterday along with who he assumed was his stepfather at the least. Before Clawhauser could answer Vivian he stepped closer and said "that would be me ma'am. Why don't we go to my office to chat, I think I know why you're here."

Vivian was glad that at least one of the officers that helped her Nicky was available and nodded quickly. Wolford simply smiled and said "well then follow me." He then proceeded to lead her up to the second story and down a line of offices of varying size stopped at the fifth one.

Wolford opened the door and waved her in, gesturing for her to sit in the chair in front of his desk. Once she was seated Wolford spoke. "So I assume I know why you're here, but on the off chance I'm wrong tell me what brings you here to me today?"

Vivian cleared her throat a little before speaking. "Well I assume you assumed right. I'm here to thank you for what you did for my son, you and the Lieutenant."

Wolford smiled and replied "It was no trouble honestly. Any officer would have done the same thing."

This caused Vivian to shake her head, cross her arms and glare at Wolford. "No they wouldn't, and you know it officer. If it wasn't for Jack calling and asking for Lieutenant Bogo directly my son wouldn't have gotten the Justice he deserved and the mammals who did what they did to him probably wouldn't have gotten any repercussions and more than likely would have continued to bully him. Let's face it, say Jack was never there or didn't know Lieutenant Bogo, he or I would have called 911 directly. If it wasn't a dispatcher scoffing beciase we were foxes and hanging up or at least attempting to make some bullshit excuse it would have been a bigoted officer who lets those little shits off scot free, or saw that it was a fox and just kept driving, or immediately sided with the others without question just because we're untrustworthy, shifty foxes. Now with all do respect Officer Wolford don't try and act like it wouldn't have happened like that to try and save the face of some other officers that don't deserve it just because they're a brother or sister in blue. Because if you're really gonna do that then we're done talking and you can take my thank you and shove it straight up your ass."

Wolford, for his part, could only stare with widened eyes and only think _"This is one fiesty Vixen."_ After a few moments Wolford got over his shock and spoke. "Ahem, well...*sighs* you're right ma'am. In all honesty if your son's step-father or father hadn't called and gotten Lieutenant Bogo to show who he already knew personally..yeah what you said would have had a very good chance of happening...*sighs* and it pains me that that's the fact, that foxes have such a terrible reputation, are so hated, mistreated, and mistrusted by what sadly is so many. Including those that swore an oath that they would serve the city and every mammal in it no matter their species..but it sadly happens...but ma'am you should also realize that things ARE changing, for the BETTER for foxes. Mammals opinions are changing about foxes gradually as they get more intergrated into society. Views ARE CHANGING, perfect example my pack has hated and misutusted foxes for generations, but now? The whole packs view has changed and we no longer see your species as the lowlife untrustworthy scum they've been painted as...and maybe it's not perfect, and some mammals views won't change no matter what. But you gotta see that for your species change is happening, but also recognize almost all change comes slow."

After another pause he continued. "And, change is happening too within the ZPD. The conduct you described is being brought down more and more and the bigoted officers within ALL of the departments are beginning to be ousted. Steps are being taken ma'am. Can I guarantee that what you're saying what would have happened wouldn't have happened no. But I CAN guarantee that in the future it won't, and if it does it won't get brushed under the rug it'll get handled head on and that officer will be out on their ass faster than they can say a slur."

Vivian absorbed all the things Officer Wolford had said, she had to admit he was right about views changing and trusted his word that it included police officers when something major stood out. "Ummm wait...Father or stepfather?"

This caused Wolford to raise an eyebrow. "So..wait, is he just the boyfriend?"

Vivian's jaw dropped a little. "Nooo? He's not any of those things he had just met my son and me later in the evening.."

Now it was Wolford's turn to be surprised. "Wait, seriously? That tod only met you and your kit that day?"

Vivian's curiosity continued to grow. "Yes..why?"

"Well I'm not the expert on foxes but I know enough to know that Jack Hunter was acting completely like a father in protect mode."

Vivian's jaw dropped completely and she spoke breathlessly. "Ah. Ah...what?"

This is the moment when Bogo, who had come out of his office finally done with the paperwork only to be flagged down by Clawhauser and been made aware of Vivian being in the Precinct, made his entrance and spoke. "Yes, he was being exactly like a fox tod who's kit was in danger or what have you, total protect mode. When Wolford was speaking with your boy he went down on one knee to be more at eye level you know. Well Jack REALLY didn't like him being close to your kit at all. His tail puffed out a little, hackles raised slghitly, and his eyes narrowed. These particulars Wolford did not notice, I although did. Wolford also at one point ruffled the fur on top of your sons head like I've seen him do with his own son Ralph, I noticed your sons discomfort at it, so did Wolford...and so did Jack."

After a pause to take the seat at the desk Wolford offered Bogo continued. "That's when Jack effectively cut off his conversation with me, his tail was fully puffed out and swishing in agitation, hackles fully raised, and eyes perceiving Wolford as a possible threat to your son Nicholas. Jack then discreetly shifted to meet Wolford and I meet Nicholas and in a way so Jack blocked Wolford's view of Nicholas partially. Baisically in a way that Wolford could only see Nicholas' feet, and though I believe neither Jack nor Nicholas noticed but Jack's tail wrapped around your son's ankles in a protective manner, but for canine speech also warning Wolford to stay away from your son. Or so Wolford says that's what it was."

Vivian felt like she would pass out from all she was just told, for fox tods what Wolford and Bogo were describing happens on an INSTINCTUAL level, and ONLY for their kits or mates EXCLUSIVELY. The fact that Jack was exhibiting that behavior towards her son after just meeting him was just...mind blowing. But Vivian had a feeling it didn't stop there. "Ok...I'm...sorry it's just, this is a lot to grasp, and it's hard to understand fully unless your a fox, and another canine can only partially see why I'm so shocked. (At this Wolford, who had taken the seat next to Vivian, nodded) but something tells me his behavior doesn't stop there."

Wolford looked to Bogo as he didn't know if it did, Bogo nodded to Wolford and then spoke. "No, no it did not. It continued until we parted. Jack wouldn't let Wolford be within 10 feet of Nicholas or his upper lip would begin to curl up, he kept basically flush to Nicholas' side the entire time with a paw on the shoulder. When we were getting ready to go into the building Nicholas hesitated so Jack wrapped his tail around him again, kept it there the whole entire time."

This is when Wolford chimed in "Well at least until the Scout Leader pulled out a can of FoxAway Spray to spray all of of including your son. Jack then really showed protect mode and we had to restrain him."

Vivian who had still been recovering from the shock of all this new information could only double down on the shock and whisper out "...what did he do?"

Bogo took over again. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

Vivian repeated herself a little louder. "No, what did he do?"

Wolford and Bogo glanced at each other, Wolford also internally cringed because her not knowing meant Jack wanted to keep it that way, which meant Jack was probably about to be in the dog house. Wolford elaborated, "Well Jack, he umm..might have pulled out a collapsible baton and beat the living shit out of the leader in a span of about fifteen seconds. He dislocated the leader's left knee, broke the wrist of the hand holding the FoxAway Spray in three places, popped the elbow of the same arm out of its rightful place and finished it off with wrenching the shoulder of the same arm out of its socket. But uhh, if I hadn't tackled them both Jack might have killed the Scout Leader..his next strike with the baton was aimed at the leaders temple."

* * *

 _Done! Sorry again for this chapters delay but when it ain't right it ain't right._

 _I felt like this was the best stopping point for this chapter and as I hope your still aware Vivian won't be showing up in the next chapter as it will focus solely on Jack. "But ConcernedF0X what about what happens next!?" Sorry folks but you will have to wait and see. Spoiler there's not much more context in the precinct and it'll be better to include in the next chapter with Vivian flow wise as it will include her going to 1955 Cyprus Grove Lane and learning some more things about the tod that is Jack Hunter._

 _Next time on A father Figure! We finally get to see what Jack's been up two and the chapter will cover his entire first week in Afuristan as a lot of important things happen. Brace yourselves for it, because NightOwl is about to return to the field, and blood will flow._

 _Alright that's it for this one, this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!_


	9. Chapter 7: Unknown Employment

**Alright, _now the story reaching a pinical point, Jack's back! These next few chapters will cover Jack as he is on the flight to Afuristan, and a lot is going to happen so strap yourselves in._**

 ** _to my regulars I have combined unknown employment and the message. they fit better together and save space._**

 ** _Vince- *Picks up discarded Pitchfork, "then what's this then my good sir?" *inspects the pitchfork, "you know this is actually a nice one, I'm keeping it." Also, while Nicholas Wilde Hunter would be admittedly bad ass, we would miss out on Judy's famous "NICHOLAS PIBERIUS WILDE!" when he gets in trouble. Also further in the story something will crop up about the Hunter name that causes Jack to want to be rid of it. There's hints throughout the story. And yes Vivian's got A LOT of questions, but she's going to have to take Demetri's advice and take it slow or she won't get answers to any._**

 ** _Goomoo- why thank you. It's great to know I'm not messing shit up._**

 ** _Story time!_**

* * *

Chapter 10: Unknown employment

The plane was about halfway through its projected flight to Afuristan the C130 leaving at 10 am exactly, making it about 4ish back in Zootopia. Most of the CIA spooks were clocked out and thankfully had mostly ignored him once they saw Sally. Of course he got the standard looks of curiosity and at least one of disdain but those reactions were to be expected. What wasn't expected was the two CIA spooks still awake like him were hushedly gossiping about him, one being a female cheetah and the other a male grey wolf.

Thankfully at the distance they were they couldn't see his ears burning red. Because of his enhanced hearing he could quite easily hear their hushed conversation about what they would do to him if one of them got him alone, or both of them. And while most conversations about "getting him alone" would involve trying to beat him, those types of conversations wouldn't cause his ears to burn red. No these two particular mammals were talking about a whole different type of "beating," among other things.

If Jack had to guess they were having a sort of competition to see who would get the first crack at "getting him alone." If that was truly the case in Jack's opinion the grey wolf was winning, currently the wolf was being VERY descriptive of what he would do while also stating it wouldn't be a "fuck their brains out" kinda deal but more of a gentle touch. While the cheetah who had spoken first about what she'd do elaborated it'd be a "jump him and fuck his brains out" kind of ordeal. Honestly Jack was fine with both but preferred the former more than the latter.

The wolf now done with his description of what he'd do led to the cheetah conceding letting her friend take the victory. Then she spent the next five minutes pep talking the male wolf as he immediately became nervous of rejection among other things. Jack was fine admitting he was bi, he'd slept on both sides of the fence and while he had a preference for females it didn't keep him exclusively there. Of course it didn't mean he was gonna take either offers, but it also didn't mean he wouldn't. It had been awhile since he had last had sex, and having it nowish would help sate the winter urges.

So Jack decided he'd help things along and a see where things go as the wolf was also nervous of approaching him in general. Sally was still resting on his lap so he hit the mag release and pulled out the mag and unchambered the round in Sally and deftly caught the round in the air. He then snapped the round into the magazine and then put the magazine back in but didn't chamber a round. He finished it off by putting Sally back in the bag and glancing in the two mammals direction briefly making eye contact with both before laying his head against the seat rest and closing his eyes.

He figured the less threatening he looked the more confident the grey wolf would be, and it worked. With another minute of cheetah pep talk the male grey wolf gained enough confidence to approach him. Peering through a partially opened eye lid he saw the wolf stand up and begin to work towards him, stopping half way and looking back where he previously sat. His cheetah friend shot him two thumbs up that bolstered the wolf to go the rest of the way.

The wolf, still nervous stood in front of him seemingly debating how best to get his attention. The wolf finally decided by clearing his throat. "*ahem"

This caused Jack to open his eyes and look the wolf in his blue eyes intently and say "hmm?"

This caused whatever the wolf to say next to be forgotten and he stumbled upon his next words. "Yes, ah um..do you mind if I sit?"

The wolf then gestured to the seat behind himself where one of Jack's bags was sitting. Jack simply replied "no not at all, here hand it to me."

Once the wolf pawed over Jack's bag and Jack resituated it the wolf took the seat facing Jack. He then opened his maw only to quickly close it, blushing noticeably at his inability to formulate words in Jack's prescience, it was quite flattering. So Jack threw him a lifeline. "Quid pro quo, you start."

The wolf was at first surprised that Jack spoke but then quickly nodded. "So what's your legal name?"

Jack was a little surprised that the wolf asked for his legal name but considering the wolf was a CIA agent it wasn't THAT surprising. "Full name eh? Jackson Tiberius Hunter, just call me Jack. You?"

"Michael James Fangsworth, Mike or Michael is fine."

Hearing the wolf's last name caused Jack to whistle, the Fangsworths were an incredibly influential wolf pack ranking fourth in major pack hierarchy and they had a broad stance to help all canine species including foxes. Once he finished the whistle Jack said "Fangsworth? Damn that makes you practically royalty by canine standards, I'm honored." He finished his sentence with a flourished bow while still seated which caused Micheal to blush again.

"You know how to make a wolf blush, but it's not that big of a deal."

"Humph so you say Michael, but I'm a fox so for me it is. While the rest of society was kicking us down and spitting on us your pack was treating us with kindness, wiping off the spit and helping us to our feet. I'd wager foxes would have been in a lot worse place if not for the Fangsworths and I should know. Not to mention your pack threw a lot of money towards Sparrowtail Industries which has helped foxes more in the short time it was founded than in hundreds if not thousands of years. I know the CEO personally, and he said so himself that if the Fangsworths hadn't put forth what they did when they did we'd still be small time."

Micheal decided to switch topics and get things back on track. "yes it's a shame how your species has been treated, I for one though quite like foxes"

Jack just smirked at him and then dropped a bomb. "Oh I know, otherwise you wouldn't be over here... I quite liked the bathroom scene by the way."

Micheal practically burst into flames. "You heard that!?"

"Oh yes I did, I heard everything and not just what you'd do but your friend as well."

"Oh my..ah uh.."

Micheal went to stand and leave still a fireball of embarrassment but Jack snagged one of his arms. "Now now, I get it's embarrassing that I overheard your entire conversation but as I said, I quite enjoyed the bathroom scene. But I did also enjoy the rest, and I'm halfway tempted to take both of you up on those scenes you both so clearly, and vividly, depicted. So go ahead and sit back down, and let's continue the game we started so you can mull over what's going on in your head and have that blush start to calm down, otherwise I might have to get a fire extinguisher."

This caused the blush to take on a new tinge of red but Micheal did sit back down, both he and Jack looked over at Micheal's female cheetah friend who hade subtly shifted down the plane closer to them and was attempting to eavesdrop having spotted Micheal standing and the arm snag. Jack smiled a little and waved and Micheal just looked over at her and smiled sheepishly. After about another minute of silence he asked the obvious question. "How did you overhear me and my friend? We were halfway down the plane and whispering!"

"I for reasons unknown to me, have heightened senses. My hearing capabilities are on par with the average rabbits, maybe even slightly above which is why I heard every little detail you said. My sense of smell can make some wolves jealous, and my eyesight could easily be compared to a bird of prey. Oh and I also have enhanced reflexes."

Micheal's blushing inferno had gone down some and a look of impressed was on his face. "...well I'm jealous. You seriously don't know why though?"

Jack shook his head and shrugged. "I mean I have theories as to why but no concrete proof, even doctors can't figure it out."

"Huh, well..wait did that count as my question?"

"..nah. That was general follow up to my answer, go ahead and ask another."

"alright, hmm...oh! Just what are you to the CIA? I don't recognize you or your name from the personal files."

This caused a look of surprise to appear on his face. "CIA? I'm not in the CIA."

Micheal gave a look of surprise to match. "You're not CIA?"

A shake of the head.

This caused Micheal's eye to narrow and his tone to change. "Then how the fuck are you on this plane? This C130 flight was designated for the transport of CIA personnel ONLY."

Micheal's change in down surprised Jack causing him to lean back and reply "What are you talking about Michael? After I reported in Major Daggermane told me to board the C130 marked ZDF4137. This is C130 ZDF4137."

This caused Micheal to growl in frustration and stand muttering "I'll be right back."

Jack watched as Micheal walked towards where he was previously sitting, holding up a paw to his cheetah friend when she started to say something, which caused her to shoot a murderous glare towards Jack, which if he was honest with himself, made him wary to make her mad. Micheal grabbed a backpack situated under his seat and then returned to where Jack was. Once Michael was seated he took out a sat phone and military grade laptop and began dialing on the sat phone. Jack went to ask what he was doing when Micheal shot up a paw telling him to be quiet.

Micheal finished dialing the number and put the phone to his ear, looking Jack in the eyes for the first time since he got up and left. The line connected and Jack could make out the conversation on the other end.

" _HardWood Military Affairs, how can I help you?_ "

"Yes this is Special Agent Micheal Fangsworth, CIA. I need you to connect me to Major Daggermane immediately."

 _"Ok hold please while I connect you."_

Jack was curious about what all this was about and a great deal of confused, he was instructed to board this specific plane, but the plane was meant for CIA personnel only? Jack was many things, but a member of the CIA was not one of them...or so he thought.

After a moment the line connected. _"This is Major Daggermane."_

"Ah Major. This is Special Agent Fangsworth I.."

 _"Fangsworth!? What the bloody hell are you doing calling now!? You're still on the damn plane! What reason could there possibly be for you breaking protocol and calling me right now!?"_

"Sir. Sitting across from me is one Jackson Tiberius Hunter, who, according to him, is not a member of the CIA. Yet, you instructed him to board this plane meant for CIA personnel only, why?"

 _"Jackson Hunter? What the hell are you talking about!? He IS CIA! I'm looking at his CIA dossier I was sent right now! That's why he's on that bloody plane!"_

Jack felt like he got punched in the face. He in all of his life, had never been so surprised or confused. He was NOT a member of the CIA, yet there was an official dossier that said otherwise? He was so very confused, and the feeiking of being punched in the face came from the look Micheal sent his way. But before Jack could open his mouth to say anything Micheal spoke into the phone again.

"Well Mr. Hunter here has vehemently stated that he is not in fact CIA and has about thee most confused expression I've ever seen on a mammal, so care to explain?"

 _"Gods damnit for the love of Mother Lion! He's a great actor then because HE. IS. CIA. And he's probably not telling you because it's above your security clearance!"_

"Bullshit Major! I have C4 security clearance and!.."

 _"His security clearance is a whole letter grade above yours! His is B4!"_

"What!? How!? I am.."

 _"Can it agent! I'm done bloody discussing this! I'm sending you his dossier electronically and you'll receive it in a moment! Goodbye!"_

Micheal, once the line disconnected, slowly pulled it away from his face and set it down on the seat next to him, and then looked Jack in the eyes. Jack for his part was extremely unsettled, and part of it came from the look Micheal was giving him, he didn't like it one bit and wished to never see it again. But most of it came from the fact the an official dossier said he WAS CIA when he wasn't, and that he apparently had a extremely high security clearance.

Jack felt he should say something but as he opened his maw to speak Michael shot up a paw and said harshly, "Not. One. Word. Not a single word Jack. You will say absolutely fucking nothing until I read your dossier. Then, you will drop the fucking act and tell me the truth. But until then not a. Single. Word. Keep. QUIET. I don't want to hear a single thing from you." Jack thought the look was bad, the harsh tone was so much worse. He wished to experience neither again. But he did as he was told and shut his maw.

Micheal opened up the laptop and after a few clicks began reading Jack's official dossier out loud. "Official CIA documentation, Jackson Tiberius Hunter...Codename:..NightOwl. Species: Fox, Red. Age: Told at agents discretion? Height: 5 feet six inches. Weight: 135 pounds. Agent status: ACTIVE IN RESERVE. Security Clearance:...B4...Missions:...what the!? REDACTED, CLASSIFIED, A4 Security Clearance required!? Official Designation: Classified. Employment time: Classified. All other miscellaneous and otherwise important information: Classified.

Michael now done reading Jack dossier looked sharply up from the laptop and growled out "Jack what the hell is this!? You better explain yourself, NOW! No lies, no bullshit, just the truth. Because I swear to all of the gods if you say you're not in the CIA I will punch you in the face! So talk."

Jack for his part didn't know what to say, he really had no clue. He wasn't in the CIA and that was the truth, but an official dossier stated he was.

 _"David couldn't have arranged this because he doesn't have any high ranking contacts in the CIA, and besides if he did he sure as hell would have told me. Demetri maybe could have gotten strings pulled, but again he would have told me. So what the hell is this because I have had zero involvement with the CIA, well besides doing a short hack on their database that pulled all of the files on criminals they had, but that's besides the point. No one knew who I was under NightOwl...and damn it that's another thing, they know my codename and tied it directly into the dossier. The only people who knew that I called myself NightOwl and know my identity once again ties only to Demetri and David, I never told Mr. Big or anyone else there who I really was. I guess I should count myself lucky whoever has made this dossier didn't put what the news outlets called me, The Reaper, or Michael here probably would have caught on. And damn it he's still waiting for me to answer but I got just as many questions...I'll just have to go for full honesty and hope he believes me."_

"Look Michael, I'm telling you the absolute truth! I. Am. Not. In. The. CIA! Official document or not! That dossier said age told at agents discretion right? Well I'm nineteen Michael! Nineteen! I can't even put in an application to the CIA, let alone be a full fledged agent with a super high security clearance! Someone somewhere somehow has pulled some major strings to say I'm in the CIA and I don't know why! I swear on Karma I don't know what's going on! I really really don't! You don't have to believe me and you can even hit me but it's the truth."

Michael just sat there quietly for a few minutes, staring at Jack trying to figure out if he truly believed him or not. During that time Michael's cheetah friend had moved even closer so she could very clearly hear the conversation going on between them. She had heard them when either raised their voices and the subject matter vexed her, and her being an agent meant it of course garnered a closer look. Finally it seemed Michael came to a conclusion.

"Hmph fine I believe you, I think. Simply because of your age, which by the way you don't look at all. I figured you for early to mid twenties at the most. But that's besides the point, the point now is who and why. So before I decide to put this ordeal behind me, save it for another day and go back to our quid pro quo session for ah...(Michael blushes a little and scratches the back of his neck), you know...do you have any ideas on who could have done this?"

Jack nodded twice and replied "I know of only two mammals who could maybe have done this. One is, well I guess my father figure David Badgerton. He kinda raised me for awhile after my parents died and he is ex-special forces, but also the least likely option. The other is my old friend Demetri Wolfgang, CEO of Sparrowtail Industries. He has a lot of pull, so perhaps he could have done this, but I don't know because I feel like he would have told me so stuff like this wouldn't happen."

Michael mirrored Jack and nodded twice as well before replying "Yes I'm pretty sure they would. Which definitely deepens the mystery, I..."

He wasn't allowed to finish when his laptop pinged very loudly stopping him short. Tilting his head and looking inquisitively to his left at the laptop he muttered "hmm that's interesting."

Opening up his laptop his confusion increased as he read was caused the ping, an email that had only one part he could access that simply said,

"This message is for Special Agent Hunter, Fangsworth I will know if you access it, and then you will be tried for treason. This information is classified to you and only agent Hunter can disclose it if he so chooses. E."

Head still tilted he looked up to Jack and said "uhhh, it's for you Jack."

Jack for his part had an eyebrow raised as Michael picked up his laptop and began reading whatever it was, now the other eyebrow joined the other and his eyes widened in surprise at Michael's statement.

"It's for me? From who?"

Michael shrugged, "it only says E. my best guess is the ZIA director Gregory Elkerton. But you won't find out till you read it, the message is only meant for you; only a small portion was for me and it basically said don't read your portion. So here you go read away, hell maybe it even has some answers in there for you."

Jack hesitantly took the laptop from Michael and looked at the message. After a movement he asked a question. "Uhhh how do I open it?"

Michael facepawed and replied "my bad, apparently it's paw print coded, just put one of your finger pads on the scanner and it should open."

Jack did just that and after a moment the message opened.

 _"Jackson Tiberius Hunter, a.k.a NightOwl...a.k.a The Reaper. Yes I imagine the surprise you must be feeling, and showing. So many identities, so many disguises. How was I discovered? may be at the forefront of your mind. After all you were so very careful to keep your identity kept a secret...I must admit the fact that you started your journey to become one of the deadliest criminal assassins on the planet at the age of twelve to be quite amazing; but then again you are a remarkable mammal. Stabbed in the neck, left to burn in your family home, to escape that alone is just amazing. But then being sent to an orphanage on purpose by the head of a then unknown fanatical cult, just to endure endless torture until a miraculous escape and then on the way out taking evidence to incriminate the head mistress...just incredible."_

Message continues. _"Now I'll reassure you now. No one but me knows just who you are. To the other directors and the head of the C.I.A you're my asset that I used to take out high value targets I deemed a threat to Mammilia, sure it put some heat my way because in their eyes I overstepped and I also refused to disclose info about you. But in the end we're both safe because I stopped a whole lot of bad things from happening through you and in doing so it got me into the chair I'm in now. Now before you go and get all irrational and angry I could have arrested you for who you really are and still be on the same damn chair I'm in now so you should consider yourself lucky. They have no idea that you ALONE, and not some group were solely responsible for the PSS Warehouse Massacre and all of your actions before that. Just me and the governor because I needed his backing, especially when I put the pieces together and learned he'd essentially pardoned YOU, and you alone."_

Message continues. _"Now I'll admit I do have a six year gap that occurred after you escaped the orphanage, which must have been you training for you were going to do. I have some ideas naturally two buildings exploded and both correlated with a big fox with a scar on his neck. First showing up at Big's Place killing three before escaping apparent capture and an abandoned library exploded shortly after in Happytown, and then at Big's mansion again killing three and then going into Big's employ, shortly after a Warehouse in the Rainforest District also exploded. Only difference is the particular fox was an arctic. Everything else was identical. That's when I first learned the name NightOwl, and as you've probably figured out by now I learned of you due to a plant I had in the Corleone Crime Family, a simple maid but around maids mammals tend to ignore them and talk. And you became quite the sensation in that mansion and she was able to learn about all the mammals you killed and then told me."_

Message Continues. " _That's where I saw an opportunity as a low level agent, and started saying that you were an asset of mine killing on my order. The problem was no one, absolutely no one knew who you really were. You changed identities and disguises after every trip/kill. All I had to go on was this: Medium sized canine. Large fox, big coyote, smallish wolf? 2 to 3 inch long Horizontal scar on left side of neck, clean, probably by a blade. Age early twenties. That's all I had so I started searching...and found absolutely fucking nothing. I was vexed, wracking my brain to figure out how I got nothing. I got frustrated and did a bunch of things including the age search from 1 year old to 100, and I got one. Single. Hit..You. A medical report at Zootopia General. Saying Jackson T. Hunter, red fox age 6, son of recently deceased James and Katherine Hunter from a house fire, came into the hospital with a horizontal wound on left side of neck reported to be caused by a piece of glass (which we both know is bull). Then your public file at Child Services showing you were indeed in the system. Then nothing. But remarkably everything, sort of matched. You disappear after escaping the orphanage and then six years later boom you show up in some files sent anonymously so a Lieutenant Adonis Bogo with all this evidence you apparently grabbed before leaving the orphanage along with a whole slew of information. And then I take a good look at you, very large fox with a 2 to 3 inch clean horizontal scar on the left side of the neck."_

Message continues. _"and I can't believe it, but there's no other option so I keep a close eye on the name Jack Hunter and on the mammal known as both NightOwl and the Reaper, and all the sudden right around the same time NightOwl leaves big empty Jack Hunter, I.e you, resurfaces applying for the military. Then I watch as you breeze through everything like it was nothing and then I was finally convinced. So I updated the file I had and let them know who you were, kinda. I got you the official dossier, the high security clearance the day you graduated. Now as long as mammals don't dig and you back up this cover I'm about we both stay in the clear. You will use this cover for anyone below your security clearance and your loved ones, do this and I stay in my chair and you stay out of a federal prison on death row. Here's your cover, after escaping the orphanage you became a vigilante, and to save you I made you an agent. You can use you taking out the Sharpfang brothers as a reference start maybe. I won't help you anymore with it I'll leave it in your capable hands. You may be wondering why we wouldn't just use what I've told everyone and the answer is they won't and don't dig, their to lazy now that they're in their high chairs. Others, like Special Agent Fangsworth, will. This I believe is the easiest and safest option for you. So now you know the stakes. Any questions you can do in person. Z.I.A Director Gregory Elkerton."_ End message.

* * *

 **Stories getting juicy now ain't it? Well at least I think it is.**

 **So this arc is going to be broken up into three parts as it is huge, so bear with me here.**

 _ **I also must mention that I am a college student so I can't dedicate all my time to writing so yes, the process is sadly slow. But I won't keep making you all wait a month and I had only realized it's been that long thanks to ActivistMoon (cheers.) so it's literally just now that I'm deciding to split the chapter like I should have done with part two of the prologue. So appreciate y'alls patience with me and remember I WILL NEVER ABANDON THIS STORY UNTIL ITS DONE...unless I die of course.**_

 _ **This is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See ya next time!**_


	10. Chapter 8: Overload

**So here is chapter 8 Aptly titled Overload as you will soon find out the reasoning.**

 **A year ago I posted the first chapter to this story, and I never expected it to take off like it did. 78 followers, 59 favorites, 49 reviews, and over ELEVEN THOUSAND views! Thank you all so very much for the support.**

 **Good news! I have recently been in contact with Starfang's Secrets, official owner of Demetri Wolfgang, and she has graciously allowed me to continue using her character! If you don't know who she is and haven't read her stories yet you need to fix that problem right now! Seriously, I mean it! Go!**

 **So I have devised a simple system to keep my stories going withput giant gaps in updates. I will write and post a chapter for A Father Figure, then one for A True Brother, then one for my brand new story Red Hood: The Story of Jason Wilde-Todd. If you have not seen or checked them out go ahead and give them a look over if you wish.**

 **Review, please. I love CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, good or bad. as long as the bad leads me to improving the story or the charcters in it. This goes for ALL of my stories. If you don't like a certain part, say so! But tell me why you don't like it so if I see and agree I can fix it. I won't be offended or anything I swear. I need to know how i'm doing so I can continually improve.**

 **Disclaimer time. I will never write sex scenes in my stories, ever. There will be heavily implied sexual acts but no sex scenes and no smut. There will also be a lot of sexual jokes, like knot jokes, there will be quite a few. Now if people really want to see those implied scenes someone message me about writing them if people really want them. If I give the go ahead you can write the scenes and post them, I will not do so, sorry. (To those following the story, my beta BrutusDeagon will be writing smut chapters for my stories, cheers.)**

 **(To my followers this is Overload and Bathroom Talk combined. They work much better together.)**

 **this chapter is half drama and the other is lighthearted with humor and sex jokes, so enjoy! story time!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Overload

Jack read the message again, and then another time. He looked away for a moment, then looked back and read it again, and again, and then again. Once he was sure that the message wasn't going to change he promptly hit the erase button, set the laptop gently into the seat to his left, stood while saying "excuse me for a moment" to Michael, and then walked to the back of the plane farthest from anyone. He took several deep breaths to calm himself, and then roared at the top of his lungs.

"FUCK!" After that in a slightly quieter tone he continued. "Fuck! Mother fucking fucks of fucking fucks in fucking fucker land with an extra side of fuck!"

Letting out a deep irritated sigh he took several more deep breaths to compose himself before turning back around to face everyone who naturally had their eyes wide as saucers staring at him. He even noticed both the pilot and co-pilot peeking their heads down the walkway of the plane staring at him.

Jack simply waved and said in an elevated voice "sorry folks, just got ah..some...interesting new developments in my life and I needed..to, ah, express it I suppose. So go back to what your were doing. And...for the love of the gods you two you're flying a damn plane look forward!"

This seemed to snap everyone out of the stupor and the pilots were the fastest snapping their heads back to the windows of the plane and their paws to the control sticks. The rest followed suite, those that were napping grumbled a little bit and settled back down, and the rest went back to what they were doing before, some occasionally glancing back at him.

Taking another few deep breaths Jack re-centered himself, he'd let to much real emotion show which he realized he'd been doing a lot in the last few days, around David, Demetri, and even though he barely knew them, Nicholas and Vivian. Those select few that was fine, but he needed to be a little more careful with everyone else. Jack smiled a little at Michael and his Cheetah friend as they were the only ones still staring at him, the friend he noticed had moved to be seated right next to Michael and had probably done so when he got up. Jack walked back over to his seat and re-seated himself, smiling lightly again to both agents. He focused then on the female cheetah, she was definitely pretty with soft hazel eyes, and somehow had an air of familiarity to her that for now he didn't have time to sort through and place.

"Sorry about that, I'm back now."

Focusing again on the cheetah he stuck a paw out and introduced himself.

"Jackson Hunter, but just Jack is fine. I don't believe the dashing wolf here has been kind enough to introduce us yet. Or tell you I heard what you were planning to do to me if you got me alone."

The cheetah for her part kept her composure very well only flushing slightly when compared to the fireball Michael had turned into.

Taking he paw in her own she shook it with the blush still on her face and she replied "oh, you did, did you? Hmm well did you like it?"

Her voice was silky and smooth and could probably warm any poor bastards heart, except Jack's, but he wouldn't let her know that. He simply smirked at her and replied "quite a bit actually, but Michael here still won first go fair and square."

The cheetah let out a light, bubbly laugh at that and said "why yes he did. My name is Evelyn, Evelyn Spotters."

When she said her name Jack no longer needed time to sort through his memory to figure out why this cheetah on front of him seemed sort of familiar, and he voiced as much.

"Spotters huh? Then you must be the daughter of Tammie Spotters."

At this Evelyn adopted a look of surprise and quickly replied "yes I am how did you know?"

Michael for his part also had a look of surprise, interested as well of how Jack knew who Evelyn's mother was. But he also couldn't feel not just a little bit irritated that his conversation with Jack was getting put on further hold. But he buried the thought and continued looking back and forth between Jack and Evelyn.

"Other than the last name Evelyn it's your eyes, same as your mother's."

"Oh..and just how do you know my mother?"

Jack tapped the scar on his neck and replied, "She kept me from bleeding out, patched me up when I was four after a very bad, and dark day. In fact she's the only one who actually treated me like a damn decent mammal instead of another shifty fox. I dare say I owe my life to your mother Evelyn, she all but forced the doctors to treat me, get me blood and what not."

At that Evelyn's paws shot to her mouth and between her fingers she muffled out, "oh my gods! You're that fox kit she used to talk about! I thought your name seemed seemed familiar!"

Jack just smirked a little bit and replied "yeah that's me. I.."

Jack didn't get to continue because Michael butted in, Michael wasn't from Zootopia but Periton, so he wasn't very aware of the news from there unless major. "Sorry to interrupt Jack but what are you two talking about?"

Jack glanced over at him and then looked back to Evelyn with a slightly pained look and said "You know the story then, could you tell it to him? I've had to tell it a bit recently and would rather not again, hearing it is difficult enough."

At that Evelyn leaned over and patted one of his paws and with a little bit of a sad smile replied "of course Jack, I understand."

Evelyn spent the next fifteen minutes telling Michael his story. Jack for his part left after the first minute and walked back to where he had gone to after reading the message. He kept his ears plastered to his head to muffle what was being said and kept his back to them, while he kept his head down with a paw continuously rubbing the scar on his neck.

Micheal, for his part at least couldn't stop staring at Jack's back after Evelyn told him about Jack's parents. And everything after his eyes never wavered, focusing more intensely on the spot between Jack's shoulder blades where the scars Evelyn had said should be there. Michael couldn't even begin to comprehend what Evelyn told him about Jack, so he wasn't going to even try. But it didn't mean he wouldn't get up and try and comfort the clearly distressed mammal.

Evelyn for her part didn't have to go past Jack's parents, but she saw the look in Michael's eyes, he was interested in Jack. So she decided to let her friend know what he would be getting into, a potentially broken, at the very least, damaged, mammal. Evelyn's specialty was psychology being a CIA shrink and while Jack had a very very good mask, it was still a mask. She wagered only specially trained mammals like her could even see it, no ordinary psychologist would. It gave her an idea, but she wouldn't voice it for now. She watched as Michael stood and began walking towards Jack, she smiled at that because she was just about to suggest he do the same thing.

Jack was trying to maintain his composure. His eyes were screwed shut and the lash scars and scar on his neck felt like they were on fire. All of his worst memories coming in rapid fire flashes, he was even starting to shake. He had these moments sometimes, when the emotions and memories he bottled up over loaded. It's happened about a dozen times, normally while he was by himself. One Demetri experienced and helped him through after he had come back from Japan, three David helped him with, two during the first year and one during the fifth. One thing all dozen had in common is they were NEVER in public, one was a close call but he managed to make it into his apartment building just in time and stumble into the lobby bathroom that was thankfully empty.

This time though it looked like it would be in public, he knew once the shaking started he wouldn't be able to move much. Definitely not enough to make it to the little bathroom towards the front of the plane. So while Jack had the mental capacity to do so before the memories started to completely take over and started to sink to the ground, his vision blackening. Before he could reach the ground fully though, a set of strong paws from a certain wolf went under his arms lifting him up.

He vaguely registered Micheal murmuring in his ear "I got you Jack, come on."

Michael started more or less carrying Jack towards the bathroom. As they passed Evelyn she stood, concern evident on her face, she had watched the sudden change in Jack and was immediately sure of what was happening, and she didn't know if Michael could handle it. But Michael shook his head and waved her off, continuing towards the bathroom. As they went by those agents who already weren't dozing again looked at the wolf carrying the fox shaking like a leaf with concern, several even standing as Evelyn did. But Michael waved them all back and reached the restroom, opening it and entering it. It was big enough so an elephant could use it comfortably, but since not all mammals were huge it was fitted with multiple sized fixtures.

Michael lowered Jack unto the floor leaning him against the wolf sized sink, he tried everything he could think of but Jack wouldn't budge even a little bit. He was seriously regretting not accepting Evelyn's help, he stood to do so since he assumed she would more than likely be right outside the door when a crazy idea hit him that might pull Jack out of his mind. So he walked back over to Jack, leaned down to muzzle level with him, took his face into his paws, and kissed him.

It took a minute of Michael kissing him, but the warm sensation from the kiss finally cut through the dark memories, causing instead of flashes of dark, but of light. It started with flashes of his parents before their deaths having a picnic in the park, one of the few times they had actually gone out in public. Then it went to a time where David was chasing him with a buzz cutter threatening to shave his tail after he had flipped the couch on him during a nap. The next memory was when they loaded up James Sparrowtail's remains, so he could finally be laid to rest properly. The next was when he and Demetri toasted to the first contacts Sparrowtail Industries acquired. The next was him and David reuniting at his home in Deciduous District.

The final three were of a certain vixen and her kit, the first being brief flashes of seeing them both for the first time, the second when little Nicholas gave him his red handkerchief, and the third was when he hugged Nicholas and caught Vivian slyly taking a photo with a big smile on her face.

Jack's vision slowly came back into focus, still being a bit blurry. The first thing he registered was the warm sensation of being kissed, and as the cloudy haze was lifting he saw the one who kissed him slowly leaning back from it and saw the emerald eyes of a familiar Vixen. He briefly was confused about where he was and why Vivian was just kissing him, but then he quickly realized he really didn't care besides the fact that it felt amazing and she was leaning back effectively ending the kiss. So he quickly put his right paw on the back of her neck and drew her right back in for another. He heard a small noise of surprise at his action before the kiss he now initiated was being returned, after a few seconds of the kiss she put a paw on his right cheek. It took only a moment of confusion wondering why her paw seemed bigger and why the pads felt like the rougher ones of a male for the haze to be completely lifted and for him to realize that it wasn't Vivian that he was kissing but Michael Fangsworth.

Eyes widening Jack quickly ended the kiss and lightly pushed Michael back so he was at the position he was before Jack drew him back in. Michael for his part was initially surprised when Jack suddenly drew him back in for another kiss but he quickly got over and returned it. Now he was surprised that ended just as quickly and that Jack looked more surprised then he did, but that didn't stop the dopey grin from showing up on his muzzle.

Jack saw the dopey grin and smirked himself in return, his surprise subsiding as confusion replaced it, last thing he remembered he was sinking to the ground at the back of the plane, now he was here and was just being kissed. He moved to stand and Michael quickly stood himself holding out a paw to help Jack up. Once they were both standing Jack simply gave Michael a questioning glance with a raised eyebrow for Michael to once again turn into a fireball before sputtering out,

"ah, um..Sorry its just I saw you sinking towards the ground and uh, well I caught you and kinda sorta decided that whatever was happening to you at the time you wouldn't want to have everyone see so I took you here to the bathroom and lowered you down. You were shaking like a leaf with a thousand yard stare, and I tried everything I could think of but you weren't reacting! soIstartedtopaincandIthoughtIshouldgetEvbecauseshesashrinkbutthenIrememberedEvoncesaid"

Jack raised his other eyebrow at the flurry of words Michael was saying so he interrupted, "Woah easy! Deep breath, then continue."

*Deep breath* "That she said when someone is trapped in their own head it's usually because of deep trauma associated with bad memories, and that normally triggers or good sensations can bring them out soIturnedaroundandkissedyou!"

The last part came out as a rush with a squeak at the end but Jack understood it. But that didn't mean Jack wasn't going to tease him a little, and he did so by keeping one eyebrow raised while crossing his arms.

While he was doing this he was cursing himself in his own head "Gods damnit Jack! You just couldn't keep it together could you? What happened to being more cautious? Damnit."

Of course his internal monologue didn't reflect on his expression at all, he very quickly wanted to get past this and re-establish his center, luckily thanks to his little tease Michael helped him do it by replying "Hey! You kissed me back after all!"

Jack had to concede the point obviously he did do just that, just not for the reason Michael thought, and he definitely wasn't going to tell him that, so he simply replied with a light smile, "yes, yes I did. As a thank you for, you know, getting me out of my own head."

Micheal put a paw on his shoulder and replied "and I was glad to do it, but I'm sorry I caused it. I shouldn't have asked what you two were talking about."

After that Michael looked down in shame but Jack wasn't having any of that quickly putting one of his own paws on Michael's shoulder and saying "hey don't do that. You had every right to know, especially considering your obvious interest in me. This info would have had to come forth eventually anyways, so it's better if it was done now. If any one should be apologizing to me it should be Evelyn, she didn't need to go past my parents and tell you about my scars."

At the mention of his scars Michael backed up a little, removing his paw in the process and timidly said "I want to see them."

Jack could have said no easily, but part of him didn't want to, so instead he softly replied "okay."

Jack started by taking of the red flannel over shirt, shortly before he boarded he had rolled the sleeves done so when the shirt was removed it reveled the claw scars on his left arm.

These were instantly noticed by Michael who uttered out "my gods.."

Jack simply smiled sadly and replied, "it gets worse."

Jack then proceed to slowly lift his white shirt over his head exposing all of his scars on his abdomen and chest for Michael to see who adopted a look of mild horror on his face, barely uttering out a "how?"

Jack decided he'd stick with the cover Elkerton gave him and with another sad smile replied "Simple explanation for now, one word, vigilante...And it's worse on my back."

Michael had sort of a none reaction to Jack's explanation already accepting it in his head but putting it on the back burner as a topic for later, there were more pressing matters to him at the moment as he slowly circled behind Jack to see what he wanted to see. Once he was finally behind Jack he felt like he wanted to cry seeing all of the scars there, moving closer Michael slowly traced the dozen lash scars on Jack's back while Jack looked down at the ground.

Once he was done Michael hugged Jack from behind lightly, paws around his waist with his head resting on Jack's right shoulder, after a moment he whispered right in his ear "I'm sorry this happened to you."

After that Micheal removed his head from Jack's shoulder and kissed him lightly on the cheek before putting his head back on the previous spot.

These words and actions caused a warm smile to appear on Jack's face and an idea to form in his mind that he immediately voiced. "You know, mammals say the best way to not be affected by bad memories is to have good ones replace them."

Michael immediately got the implications Jack was getting and removed his head from the spot it was resting and his right paw went off Jack's body leaving just his left paw on Jack's hip.

Smirking at Jack he replied "Oh is that so? And just what did you have in mind?"

Turning to face Michael he smirked in reply and said "the bathroom scene."

He kissed Michael after that and clothes were quickly shed after.

 _(Evelyn, after Micheal took Jack into the bathroom)_

Evelyn had her ear on the bathroom door. After Micheal had stood to go give Jack a hug she noticed a sudden change in Jack's behavior, when she saw him start to shake that's when she really became concerned. She quickly stood when Jack began to sink to the ground and Micheal rushed to grab him, Evelyn recognized the signs that Jack was having a memory based PTSD attack. She immediately felt guilty because she knew she was the cause of it happening, telling Micheal more than she should have in Jack's presence.

As Micheal dragged/carried Jack by her she took a step forward ready to offer her expertise and aid, not to mention wasn't exactly sure he could handle this situation. But when he waved her back she respected his wish and stepped back. She watched as they went down the plane towards the restroom, several agents she knew that had medical experience also standing which Micheal also waved back. They sat down of course and began conversing amongst themselves and looking to the bathroom Micheal had taken Jack into with concern.

Once the door was shut Evelyn stood and quickly walked over to the group of agents and spoke. "He will be fine, he's just having a PTSD attack. It's my fault it's happened, but my colleague can bring him out of it no problem…I am the fox's psychiatrist so trust me. If you are concerned how this will effect his work it won't, this very rarely happens and only certain things can initiate it, things that he won't be exposed to. I was telling my colleague about him and that's what triggered it because I over stepped."

Once she was done speaking a few of the agents nodded and the rest simply considered that matter settled. This wasn't their field of expertise and they had other things to do, they new Evelyn was a top shrink so if she said it would be fine, it would be fine. Satisfied she'd belayed their concerns she swiftly walked over to the bathroom and put her ear to the door.

She heard everything that transpired on the other side. The way Micheal brought Jack out of his own head wasn't how she would have gone about it but it worked apparently. She has to put a paw to her mouth to stifle her giggling at her friends blustering. She could easily imagine Jack teasing her friend about his choice to kiss him, sadly though that meant Jack was already deflecting what had just happened.

Hearing that Jack had kissed Micheal back was a surprise for her and she couldn't quite explain it, it would be something she'd have to ask about if she actually became his shrink. She wanted to coo when Micheal had started to beat himself up about what happened and Jack immediately wasn't having any of it, quick to reassure him that she was to blame. She wasn't all that surprised when Micheal asked to see Jack's whip scars on his back, she had noticed Micheal had fixed on Jack's back after she told him about them.

Judging by Micheal's reaction, there were way more scars then just those. When Jack said he was vigilante came as a shock, she'd have never guessed that, she had guessed he would have been some sort of assassin, a dark agent…but she guessed dark agents were a myth after all. As they continued conversing though, it shifted to a direction she wasn't expecting. "Oh. Oh my. Erm, ah..I suppose I should leave them be now, wow." She took her ear off the door and quickly walked by to her seat, a blush upon her face.

 _(Micheal Fangsworth, twenty minutes later)_

Jack and Micheal were getting re-dressed after the impromptu 'session' they had. When they had started Jack had quickly taken control over being more dominant, which Micheal hadn't minded in the slightest. But now that they were done all of those questions that had been circulating in his head were back now, and he was also questioning if what they had just done had truly been the right move all things considered.

Micheal kept glancing at Jack, he had his back to him and was busy putting his pants back on and stumbling around. It was adorable and funny, but still, those questions still nagged at him. He also had thoughts of his own to sort through on his own actions, he normally wasn't this impulsive. Maybe Eve was rubbing off on him. Maybe it was because it was the start of mating season. Or maybe it was because he always had a thing for foxes and red wolves, and this fox in front of him was smoking hot. He couldn't tell which it was.

 _(Jackson Hunter, same time)_

For Jack's part, he had quite enjoyed what had just occurred, but sadly he was already starting to regret having done it. He felt he used Micheal to delay inevitable things and questions, it didn't feel right to do that. He was so distracted by that thought that he was having a hard time putting his pants on. He internally cursed as he stumbled around like an idiot trying to get his other leg in and could see Micheal trying not to laugh through a reflection. But he also saw the quizzical look on his face.

Finally getting his pants on and secured Jack said, "I can almost feel that expression on your face Micheal. So, what's on your mind?"

Micheal sighed and replied "it's just..we just met, and I have all of these questions about you. Some of them pretty damn important. So I…"

Jack was pretty sure he knew what Micheal was hesitant to say so he finished it for him. "Think you may have jumped the gun on this considering you know just my name and a little but of my severely fucked up history? But at the same time you wanted to make a sad mammal feel better and went along with his suggestion on just how to do that?"

Once he was finished speaking he turned to face Micheal and snagged his white shirt from the ground between them and started to put it on. Micheal nodded a couple times and said, "heh, took the words right out of my mouth…but yeah, while what just happened was amazing, I..I don't think this was the right time. I mean come on, I know basically nothing about you and the same goes for you, and I was JUST investigating you to find out if you were and agent or not. Not to mention we're on a MILITARY plane for Karma's sake! Then there's the fact that you said you were a vigilante! I don't even know how I feel about that! Not to mention what kind were you!? Anti-hero like the Dark Night or like Red Hood? And so many questions! So many!"

Micheal was panting in panic of his own and Jack swiftly walked the short distance to him and took his shoulders in his paws. "hey. Hey. Look at me. Breathe. "

Micheal looked at him and followed the commands he was being given, once Jack was sure he was claimed down he back up a little. "There you go. Look, I agree with you. While what happened was indeed amazing, and I totally just joined the mile high club with an attractive wolf, I agree this definitely wasn't the right time for it…I have so many things in my head to sort out about my life, so many conflicting thoughts…and you're right, I know basically nothing about you. Then there's the fact that I feel like I used you as a distraction from all of it, which isn't fair to you at all, and I'm sorry for it…as to my V status, that should wait at least until we're back at our seats and aren't half naked, well in your case, nice underwear by the way..didn't think you were a polka dots kinda guy."

Micheal looked down at his underwear, black boxers with pink polka dots, and back up at Jack, then lightly shoved him back. "Hey polka dots are nice! Besides I didn't think I'd be taking off my pants today and taking a, ah, erm… Anyways I'm was wearing a suit, that's more clothing than you!"

Jack couldn't help letting out a chuckle and a half grin at Michael's blush and blustering reply. Micheal lightly shoved him back again playfully. "Yeah yeah laugh at the flustered wolf. Anyways I suppose you're right about waiting about your, V status? That's a weird thing to call it, but yeah we should wait until we're back in our seats…and I should put on my pants."

Once Micheal had his pants on and secured he smiled at Jack before walking towards the door. Before he could open the door though Jack quickly grabbed his arm. "Woah there Micheal! You might wanna take a whiff of yourself. Because to me you smell like fox and sex, especially on your lower area..and you could maybe use a mint."

Micheal took a sniff of himself and leaned back, then his breath.. "Yeah, you do have a point. *sniffs* and you foxy smell like wolf and sex…don't suppose you have any MuskMask?...or a mint?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "What just because I'm a fox I carry MuskMask around?"

Micheal didn't fall for the tease. "Well do you?"

Jack dropped his arms and eyebrow. "You're no fun…yeah I do, and some mints. But they're in my bag. But!"

Jack turned and walked over to the wolf sized sink and started rummaging around. "But there is normally some cans of MuskMask on military planes, or so I'm told. Lots of mammals, smells, lack of bathing, etcetera. At the very least there will be some air freshener we can spray ourselves with. The mint can wait until we are back at our seats."

After a few moments Jack found a can of MuskMask under the sink. "Ah ha! *he shows the bottle* told you."

After a few minutes of spraying themselves, using up the whole bottle, they no longer smelled like sex and each other. Now back in front of the door Micheal put a paw on Jack's shoulder, prompting him to look at him. "Alright, let's get back, we have a lot to talk about."

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 **Done! So yeah like I said, implied sex scene. As seen directly above, again sorry if you all were hoping to read the smut from me but I have no talent or will in that department.**

 **Another disclaimer. I get that potentially some of you might not like the I guess slightly gay theme of this chapter, but I say tough shit. It's 2019 and I like to keep my story and characters progressive. Don't like it? Stop reading it or skip those parts I don't care. If I lose readers to this to bad, so sad. I can't please everyone.**

 **Next time on A Father Figure! A new web of lies is formed and Jack's V status is dicussed**

 **That's it! So until next time this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!**


	11. Chapter 9: V Status

**Hello hello! I have returned with a new chapter for you! I do apologize that its been a little over a month but with my semester nearing the end things are picking up so I am staying busy. Although I freely admit this chapter could have been done and out sooner but during my sprink break I took a break from literally everything and went down to Florida. sorry but I needed it.**

 **Hey look! look! do you see it!? Thats right I have a cover image for the story now! The scene should be familiar to you all I hope! This work was done, and the one for ATB that I neglected to mention, were both done by the very talented WastedTime EE. Who also in case you don't already know has also done the amazing story The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether and its sequel A Lamb Among Wolves. If you have not read them I can wholeheartedly recommend that you do. Also if you like the way the artwork looks and wish to have one of your own go look him up! The work is superb, the prices are great, and he's a great guy in general.**

 **4 new followers, 5 new favorites...and look! REVIEWS! Oh how I have missed them! Please don't hesitate to review even if its a few short words, I love getting feedback!**

 **Draconis2U: well its good to hear you enjoy my story! I originally started this story because I did not want to do a straight wildehopps story out of the gate, because while I enjoy every fluffy moment, that's this fandoms main component and I didn't want my story to get lost in the crowd. I had this concept in my head for awhile and since I had seen none like it I thought it was the perfect launch point to get me off the ground. What I did not expect though was how fast it took off. So its glad to hear my efforts are still going smoothly.**

 **Wildefan23: Unless I die, I won't be stopping this story. And if I do, well it will go into the capable paws of my beta BrutusDeagon. So fear naught!**

 **Alright I think i've jabbered on enough for now, so story time!**

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Chapter 11.4: V status

Jack and Micheal finally exited the bathroom and started to head back to their seats, several of the other mammals on the plane looked up at them as they passed but otherwise said or did nothing. As they got closer to their sits Jack noticed Evelyn look at them and the second she made eye contact with him she quickly turned away, turning into a embarrassed fireball as she did. Jack started to raise an eyebrow in curiosity when it shot back down and he burst in to a fireball of embarrassment as well. There was only one reason she would have been embarrassed, and that is if she had her ear on the door during…. " _Oh shit…well at least she got a good show..why did I just think that? Bad brain."_

Micheal noticed Evelyn's actions as well and could even see a blush peaking through Jack's fur, so he brought Jack to a stop a few feet shy of Evelyn. He was about to ask what was going on but Jack beat him to the punch by whispering in his ear, "she had an ear to the door probably the entire time, well up until we started to join the mile high club….I hope.."

Now Micheal's face also turned into a fireball of embarrassment. "Well…ah, um…yeah shit seems like the appropriate word."

Jack nodded twice and murmured "agreed. Well, let's get this over with, I'm already feeling uncomfortable enough as it is."

At that Jack padded past Micheal and took his seat, opening one of his bags and starting to rummage through it. Micheal followed Jack with his gaze, wondering what Jack meant by him being uncomfortable before adding it to the list and retaking his seat next to Evelyn. Evelyn didn't say anything to either of them as they sat back down, her face still tinged red. Evelyn may be impulsive, straightforward, flamboyant, and frisky especially when it comes to all things sexual. But when you're being nosy and happen to hear your best friend in the whole world starting to get…." _I don't even wanna finish that thought."_

While she was trying to purge the thought and the imagery that came with it from her brain Evelyn heard Jack mutter to himself "where are they? I know I have some."

She took that moment to glance over at Jack who currently had his third bag open on the floor in front of him, he was scratching his head while it had a little tilt. It was so freaking ADORABLE! Which probably was not a word that someone would normally associate with him. The fox in front of her was a hardened mammal, handsome but with an aura of intelligence and danger to him, and and penance to show little to no emotion. She got that based off what she had observed of him since she first saw him walk onto the plane. Of course as she learned who he was and watched him up close she saw the layers lying deep beneath that he did not let show, or at the most only let show a little.

This moment she was seeing now was one where one of those layers was showing through, and he probably didn't even notice. Evelyn took a moment to look at Micheal and saw a soft smile upon his face as he took in Jack's adorable look as well, which caused her to smile as well. The moment was broken though by Jack calling out "ah there it is."

Evelyn turned back to Jack to see him holding a rectangular tin of mints. He jangled them a couple of times and triumphantly said "Ha I told you I had some."

Jack then tossed them over to Micheal who caught them one pawed. Micheal popped the lid open, looked in and said, "ahhh Jack, there's nothing but matches in here."

Jack tilted his head and replied "what do you mean?"

Micheal simply just titled the open tin to show Jack a bunch of matches inside. Jack scrunched up his faced and leaning back letting out an "ah shit."

Jack shook his head once and then said "well damn, I put a bunch of matches in a mint tin a two years, three months, two weeks, and seven days ago, didn't realize that's the tin I grabbed. Sorry."

Evelyn looked back and forth at Jack and Micheal confused about a couple things that she needed elaboration.

"Okay hold on. One, Jack why do you have a mint tin full of matches. Two, how in the world can you remember the exact date on something so little and mundane? Three, Micheal why in the world would you look disappointed about not getting a mint? You don't even like mints."

Jack was quick to answer her first question by simply pulling out his cigarettes and shaking them before replacing them in his pocket.

Micheal chimed in at seeing the pack of cigarettes saying. "Jack you smoke? You know how bad that is for you?"

Jack just shrugged and casually said, "well I can't well and go pour a bourbon now can I? Because drinking ain't allowed and I recently decided I shouldn't drink every night. I can quit these anytime I want with no side effects, I've done it before. But I need something to help take the edge off and for now cigarettes are the best damn thing I got."

Once Jack was finished speaking he crossed his arms and Micheal and Evelyn exchanged glances with each other, and after a moment Evelyn took the reins.

"Jack, are you an alcoholic?"

Jack scoffed a little and replied, "no I've never been an alcoholic, I was more of a..borderline alcoholic if anything. But I've given up hard drinking."

At Jack's reply Evelyn and Micheal glanced at each other again and this time Micheal spoke. "Jack, all alcoholics claim they're 'borderline'."

Jack let out a irritated huff at that and retorted, "fine then I guess I'm a fucking alcoholic. But you would be to if you couldn't forget anything at all."

Jack took in the expressions on their faces and then continued. "Oh yeah, that's the answer to your second question to by the way. I have a condition called hyperthymesia, it's is a condition in which an individual possesses a superior autobiographical memory. Meaning I can recall the vast majority of personal experiences and events in my life with vivid and excruciating detail, I also have a complete photographic memory. Add those two together and I can remember everything, absolutely everything that has occurred in my life. This gift comes with its own curse though, since I remember everything as I side effect I can't forget anything either."

Jack paused to let that sink in for the two before continuing. "Every single bad thing that has happened in my life I remember with one hundred percent complete clarity. Then add the simple fact that I have gone through so much terrible shit adds to the fact that yeah, I drank. I drank a lot because when I was drunk it was the only time those godsdamn memories weren't assaulting my consciousness with their presence. It was the closest I could get to forgetting them, if not just for a few splendid moments."

Jack took in their shocked expressions and figured he might as well drive the point home. "So, with my perfect memory, comes horrendous nightmares. All those dark moments come back when I close my eyes. It was every night, and I've tried everything, so in the end…I haven't slept in 2 years, 11 months, 1 week, and four days. I tried sleeping the day I stopped being a vigilante, it didn't go over well. Before that I hadn't slept in 6 years, I tried sleeping after I got my Justice and Ironsides was behind bars, didn't work out. Before that day I hadn't slept in another 6 years, so in total for 14 out of 19 years of my life I have not slept a damn wink."

Jack took a deep breath and then finished his speech. "Now look, I know there's probably a bunch of things you two wanna say to me about all of this, or arguments to my non sleeping, or emotions you wish to express. But for the love of Karma, don't. It's gonna be nothing I haven't heard before so spare me the pity and the questions. The only things I wish to talk about now is what was set before me and Micheal left the bathroom, which is my vigilantism and his needing a mint, and you owing me an apology. But to start, Micheal was disappointed about me not having mints is because his breath smells like fox cock."

Micheal and Evelyn stared at him, a myriad of emotions locked in on their faces as they sat their frozen from his speech. Their minds racing as they sorted through and tried to comprehend the speech they were just given by Jack. All of these things they just told them…was staggering. At the same time they also both formed blushes, Micheal's being on of embarrassment at what Jack casually finished with. Evelyn's blush because of the imagery she got, which had to admit was kinda hot, and mused on it for a brief moment. That was of course cut off by her inner shrink kicking in with the prevalent thought of _"Now I definitely have to help him and become his shrink, he needs serious help, and more help than I originally thought."_

Evelyn and Micheal sat there for about another two minutes just staring at Jack, unmoving, and Jack took that time to over some checks with his laser tripwire explosive traps. He paused checking one of the traps when he finally heard some commotion across from him. Evelyn was reaching into her right pocket and starting to rummaged around it a little. After a moment her paw emerged holding a plastic circular box of mints. She then tapped the box of mints on Micheal's arm all the while still looking at Jack.

Micheal feeling the box of mints hitting his arm fumbled for them before finding it and taking out three mints and popping them in his mouth. Then it was his turn to tap the mints on Evelyn's arm and her to fumble for them before replacing them in her pocket. At this point Jack was a little confused that they had yet to snap out of simply staring at him and moving forward with what they needed to discuss, then it clicked. _"Oh, it could be because I'm casually handling small blocks of C4 connected to laser tripwire traps. Yeah I should probably put these away."_

Jack sheepishly put away the three entry denial devices he had been checking over and clasped his paws together waiting for them to engage. Micheal, still sucking on the mints, pointed to the bag and stated. "Was that C4?"

Jack nodded once and replied "yeah, it was. Those were some of my entry denial devices, it's small blocks of C4 attached to laser tripwires. Basically I drill the traps into windows, doorways, walls, chokepoints, anywhere really that could be considered entryways to my location. Once the trap is drilled in I turn on the laser tripwire, and any enemy that comes through that point triggers the trap and they paint the walls along with anyone behind them up to 15 feet."

Evelyn and Micheal exchanged glances with each other before snapping back onto him and both exclaiming at once, "and you're just fiddling around with them on a plane!?"

Jack recoiled back a bit and then let out a little chuckle before replying "yeaahh, I admit probably not my smartest moment. So much for my 181 IQ am I right?"

Micheal and Evelyn's jaws dropped simultaneously. Evelyn let out a squeak and Micheal spluttered out "wh-wh-what!?"

It took a second for Jack to catch on. _"Oh, I did just casually mention I'm smarter than Einstein by IQ standards."_

Evelyn pointed a shaky finger at him and squeaked out "181!?"

Jack looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh before looking back and saying, "yes, my IQ is 181."

Micheal looked to be hyperventilating at the moment so Evelyn continued. "That. that. that.. that makes you smarter than.."

"Einstein yes. By IQ standards I am smarter than Einstein, but only by IQ standards. He was a brilliant mathematician and I can't stand math in the slightest. Now on the other paw I…"

Before he could continue Micheal recovered and cut him off. "No! No! Don't you even finish whatever you were about to say because if you do we'll never get to the topics we were supposed to be getting to! Sweet mother of wolves..if you continued who knows where you were going. So freeze whatever your next words were."

Jack leaned back a little and put his paws up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I concede."

Micheal nodded a few times and replied "good. You can restart wherever you were going AFTER you explain your vigilantism."

Evelyn perked up at that and chimed in "Yes just what is this about?"

Micheal gave her a side glance and gestured to Jack and said, "Jack here after the orphanage became a vigilante at the ripe age of…"

Jack let out a sigh and quickly formulated the lie he had to fold in his head and thought about how much truth he should mix in there. With the lie set in his mind he got to speaking. "Thirteen. I know what your gonna say to that, and I once again say save it. At 13 I was at the developmental stage of a fox in its mid twenties, and the size of one too and then some. I had the added bonus of having the condition I have, the IQ I have, the enhanced agility, senses, and reflexes. Plus a denser muscle structure making me stronger, my increased size, the fact I went through puberty fully at 11. Finally a hardened will and constitution to kill those who cause others harm forged through the transgressions I went through."

Jack decided this one be a one way conversation, he would speak, they would listen, and then they would return to where they originally sat. His walls were still down, and he was tired of them being that way, and while he was enjoying his conversation he was talking to damn much. So he plowed over Micheal's incoming comment and charged through.

"I'm going to cut you off there Micheal, here's what's going to happen. I will speak, tell you the story, and you will listen. No interruptions, no questions, and no questions after. When I'm done, you will both return to where you both originally sat. I'm am in a more vulnerable position than I'd like to be and it's showing in how I act. So once I'm done I need time to reconstitute myself and you two will need to properly digest all of this information. The quid pro quo we had going Micheal can continue if you wish once our feet are in Afuristan. Understood?"

Micheal and Evelyn exchanged glances with each other, confused at Jack's sudden shift. But both quickly concluded that this was a non-negotiable deal and it was something they needed to hear. Not to mention it rang true that they really needed to properly digest everything Jack as told and will tell them. So, everything else could wait for another time.

Minds made up they both nodded and Micheal said "understood."

Jack simply nodded and then dived right in. "So after I escaped the orphanage I spent a significant time training, years. As you know Evelyn a group found me and took me in, a group that was aware of the Prey Supremacy Society. Micheal if you're unsure what I'm talking about Evelyn can fill you in later I'm sure. Anyways it was them that trained me, it took some convincing but in the end it didn't particularly matter, I got my way. Once I felt ready, it was a simple matter to pick a target to get started."

Jack took a moment of pause before continuing. "It took a couple of days but I found my targets in Happytown. It was a group of wolves running a protection and extortion racket on a lot of businesses and mammals. So, targets picked I did what I wanted to do. I killed all eight of them with their own weapons, I had some weapons of my own but I wanted to make a statement. But while I wanted to make that statement I was also incredibly careful so I wouldn't get caught. I did both well, so I kept at it until I was 17. I hung up my vigilantism mostly because I made a habit of watching the news, and I wasn't liking what I was seeing happening in the Middle East, which is why I'm here. Now when I killed those wolves as it turns out I wasn't careful enough, because a certain elk within the ZIA was watching those wolves as they had ties to arms dealers in Serbia selling weapons to terrorists."

Jack shook his head a few times to help sell the lie and then kept going. *sighs "well he knew who I was and he saw that I didn't just stop at those wolves. He had the option to arrest me, but instead he chose a different path because he actually agreed with what I was doing. According to him, and oh Evelyn it is Gregory Elkerton I am speaking of. Anyways, according to him he decided to make me an agent under his command in order to allow me to keep doing what I was doing, and for him to take credit that it was by his order and ride my deeds to help him into the seat he's in now. It was a win win scenario in his eyes, although it's something he neglected to tell me…But now that I know now, honestly…it's to early to truly determine just how I feel besides the base emotion of being pissed off that I wasn't told. So there you have it, the basic breakdown of my vigilantism. I was a quick, methodical and brutal vigilante that killed any criminal I deemed evil enough."

Jack now finished with his speech opened up some of his gear and started pulling weapons out to clean and inspect signaling he was done talking. Evelyn and Micheal looked at each other and back at him before standing and returning to their original seats to go over and digest all they had been told. Meanwhile Jack began to multitask which was physically cleaning and inspecting gear while simultaneously beginning the process of fully reconstituting his walls. Not to mention doing some information digesting and mulling of his own. Jack settled into this state as the flight continued its projected flight towards Afuristan.

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 **Done! This is the last chapter of the plane, from here the story will move forward splendidly.**

 **I'll be honest with you all, when I started this story I did not plan for half of the things in these four chapters. Honestly, the plane was only supposed to be briefly mentioned and Micheal and Evelyn didn't exist. But I let the story take me and here we are, can't say i'm disappointed of the fact though.**

 **One thing, I have decided that I need to shorten the amount of chapters I have, so I will be combining several to lower that number. The reason I am doing this is because several belong together as it is and I don't want to end up with 200 smaller chapters becuase I kept cutting them short. So fair warning when you see updates in the coming week, they are just me reconfiguring things around.**

 **Next time on A Father Figure! Jack goes through his first week in Afuristan and then Vivian and Nick are back!**

 **Until then this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!**


	12. Chapter 10: Jack and The Fox

**Hello all! Concern here with a new chapter of A Father Figure for you! I know its been three months since the last chapter, but as I am working on two other stories updates will be around this timeframe more than likely.**

 **I would have had this chapter out a few weeks sooner but something unexpected happened. My beta Brutus discovered that Jack was being used by another author without my knowledge. So I took a look at the story and then reached out to her and while initially mad allowed her to continue using him.**

 **Why? Well, the story she's writing is amazing that's why! The story is on A03 and it is called Exile Dreams, the story is practically an AU of THIS STORY! And its future sequel. Also shes a great person in general really. Her name is Tamiri on there. She fell in love with my character and my story so it was quite flattering that she wished to use my character.**

 **Tamiri has also supplied me with something special that I have been wanting to happen for some time...Fanart! She's quite a good artist and I have been collecting a stockpile of fanart from her.**

 **Now this chapter was delayed because Brutus and I have kindly offered our services to her. He's using his beta skills and i'm giving her advice on Jack. and most recently I helped write a future chapter for her story as it was combat heavy, and writing combat scenes is one thing im good at. I plan to continue helping her out. So if you follow this story, GO CHECK HERS OUT! Exile Dreams on A03! do it do it!**

 **Another thing I have been wanting to happen is...CIMAR REVIEWS! Yay!**

 **Anyways i've jabbered on long enough so please if you like what I am putting out please review and follow/fav/both and just review in general.**

 **Ok thats all I got so story time!**

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Chapter 10: Jack and The Fox

Vivian just sat there, shocked at what Wolford just told her. " _Jack was going to kill that Woodchuck? That's…extreme."_ Vivian just shook her head thinking about it, looking at Wolford she said "his instinct was to kill the threat to my kit….I, really don't know what to think…"

Wolford nodded a couple of times and Bogo gave one shirt nod before saying "and that's understandable, I am just as conflicted on the matter. But at the same time, I think about his life up until that point I…and I don't blame him. Ms. Wilde you may know some of the history of his early life but I've read case files, seen the evidence, heard his testimonies. Jack had to fight tooth and nail to survive his kithood, and I mean FIGHT. I believe he has trained himself to take out anything that could cause him harm, or in this case, your son. I also believe his intention was to knock out, not to kill. Jack Hunter is without a doubt a very intricate and complicated mammal, so I can only guess what his intentions were and where his mind was."

Wolford nodded his agreement at that and built off of it. "It's true , I myself can only speculate about what was going on in that fox's mind. I too along with a few others saw what Lt. Bogo saw, and after that and meeting him this one time, and there are two things I can without a doubt say I know about Jack Hunter. The first is he was wildly protective of your son and will more than likely continue to be. The second is, he will without a doubt move heaven and earth to do so and is without a doubt a force to be reckoned with if crossed."

Vivian didn't have much to say after that, simply nodding a few times while trying to process what she'd just been told. Then, she noticed the contemplative look on Bogo's face and couldn't help but asking. "I'm sorry Lt. Bogo, but what's with that face you're making?"

Bogo let out a small snort and replied "it's just Jack in that moment reminded me of someone I met before, and someone who became a small obsession of mine to find."

Wolford looked up at Bogo and began to ask. "You don't mean?"

Bogo just nodded once and said "yes I do. The Fox."

Vivian looked back and forth at the two officers, utterly confused as to what they were talking about. So, she asked the obvious question. "I'm sorry, who?"

Bogo quickly took the reins and replied "We here at the ZPD only know this mammal as The Fox. Though, his actual species may not even be a fox. The Fox is a mammal I met about seven years ago, in my own home. I had just gotten home from work and walked into my home, only to quickly find out I wasn't alone. The Fox had cut my power with some sort of EMP jamming device, and at the time I didn't know who he was or where he was, or if he was there to kill me. It started with him calling out that my power wasn't going to come on unless he allowed it to, I of course went for my weapon but he quickly dissuaded me of it and instructed I join him in my kitchen for a glass of bourbon. He knew I always had a glass of it after work. Once there a glass of bourbon went sliding across my counter and into my hoof, and when I questioned if it wasn't poisoned or not with annoyance in his tone he informed me it wasn't."

Bogo paused to stand up, allowing Wolford to sit back down and took to pacing back and forth as he continued his tale. "So, I took a sip and of course it was regular bourbon. The second I did is when I saw him for the first time. He lit a match a brought it up to a cigarette in his mouth, illuminating his face for the briefest of moments. What I saw was a big arctic fox with a black band of fur across the eyes of which were an icy blue. Then in the next moment his flicked the match out and disappeared. Next thing I know a light is coming on in my living room and he's sitting in a chair with a glass of his own filled with bourbon. He gestured for me to sit in my chair and drink, I saw his gun so I didn't refuse. He finished his cigarette and drink and waited for me to finish mine. Once I did what proceeded to happen is he laid out everything that led to Chief Henry Ironsides arrest along with arresting all of those Prey Supremacy Society members that were in places of power, and admitting he was the one that murdered all of those mammals that turned out to have participated in the murders of James and Katherine Hunter, and the attempted murder of their son Jack Hunter. Full name Jackson Tiberius Hunter."

Vivian let out a little gasp at that. She knew Jack's parents were killed and he was almost, but what she didn't know is that a mammal tracked and killed the ones responsible. She felt a sense of justice at that but at the same time a little bit of horror because there was only one way The Fox could find them…and that's if Jack told him.

Bogo continued. "After he laid all of that out, he walked out of my front door. The second that door shut my power flicked back on. If you followed the events off Ironsides arrest and after, you should have an idea of where I'm going. The Warehouse Massacre. The media reported that at least three mammals from a organization dedicated to fighting the Prey Supremacy Society went into the warehouse and wiped all of the mammals in there. The truth of the matter is, it was only one. The Fox. Evidence showed that only one mammal entered the building and wiped all 100 mammals inside. I was there, in the aftermath, and I went inside that warehouse. The imagery of when I walked in still haunts me. Anyways, The Fox gave me a number to call, so I called him and informed him on things, including the PSS only being declared a gang and not a terrorist organization. Which is a decision to this day I don't understand or agree with."

Vivian shifted her gaze momentarily as she saw Wolford nod his head in agreement several times at Bogo's last sentence. She herself found herself nodding in agreement to, she remembered seeing that bit of information on the news and how she felt so angry during horrified in that moment.

She looked back to Bogo as he continued. "But I digress. He wasn't very happy about the news, I believe I heard a table being flipped when he dropped the phone. After that The Fox fell off the map for the ZPD, for a little bit at least. He reappeared when I reached out to colleges in the ZBI and FBI in general asking if they knew of him. The reaction I got when I described who I was looking for….as it turns out he fell of our map because he stopped being an arctic fox with a black band of fur going over the eyes…instead he was a brown coyote, a red fox, a tan coyote, a black wolf, a grey wolf, a brown wolf, a regular arctic fox, etcetera. He fell off because he started changing identities regularly, he also had a new occupation…criminal assassin. The Fox was now an assassin, we don't know who he was working for officially, but my hunch is The Corleone Crime Family."

Bogo paused to silence his phone as it started buzzing before continuing. "Sorry about that. Anyways, The Fox was now credited with killing mammals all over the world, but mostly here in Zootopia. As far as we know, he only killed mammals that were criminals and or mammals in criminal organizations. He's credited with killing high ranking members, leaders, and members of Cartels, the Triads, Yakuza, and Bratva. If you're not familiar with some of them, they are the top criminal organizations..globally. He's also credited with killing many drug and nip dealers, suppliers, etcetera. Hell when it came to it he's credited with bringing down entire drug and nip operations. Then there's the smaller ones, pedophiles, wife beaters, extortioners, and so on and so on. He's even rumored to have found and killed the serial killer known as The Painter. In total he's credited with around 300 to 400 murders, but honestly there's probably more."

Vivian absorbed all of the information Bogo had just given her about the mammal he called The Fox. She had to admit it was an interesting tale…but there was one nagging question she had to ask. "This was interesting and all Lt. Bogo. But where are you going with this? What does the mammal, The Fox, have to do with Jack?"

Bogo nodded and said with a little undertone of amusement. "figured you would want me to get to that part."

Vivian blushed a little at that but her curiosity stamped it down as Bogo continued. "What The Fox has to do with Jack is that Jack was under his care. The Fox told me as much when he was in my home. He said he found Jack and that he was taking care of him. Seeing Jack take down the woodchuck like that made me realize that the odds are very high that The Fox, one of the worlds deadliest assassins, trained Jack and taught him everything he knows. It's very likely that Jack knows the actual identity of The Fox too."

Vivian reeled back a little bit in shock at that. It took a moment but avert it she said "I..I just need to process this for a minute…this..is a lot."

At that Wolford and Bogo nodded and Wolford said "that's fine, take a moment. I know Bogo just laid a lot of information on you. It's a shock to me as well, but I doubt it's even close to the shock you must be feeling."

Vivian nodded in thanks and then shifted her gaze to the ground as she shifted her thought process to trying to comprehend and form an opinion on all of the information she was just given. _"Jack was in the care of a criminal assassin!? And not just any, one of the deadliest!? Hell, he was practically raised by him! If Jack left the orphanage at six and he's nineteen now that means The Fox was his caretaker for at least ELEVEN years! That's just…incomprehensible…then there's the fact that it's highly likely the The Fox taught Jack everything he knows AND trained him! Jack…trained and raised by an international criminal assassin…."_

Vivian just sat there, digesting all of it and trying to decide how it effected her opinion of Jack…and honestly she couldn't decide. On one hand, she was horrified by the prospect that Jack was raised and trained by an assassin…but on the other….he was nothing she could imagine he would be like being raised and trained by a criminal assassin. He wasn't cold or calculating, he wasn't dark, he wasn't scary, he wasn't terrifying, he wasn't quiet and rigid. No Jack wasn't any of those things, a little intimidating yes, as well as intricate and mysterious, and he did have a little edge and aura of danger to him…but that was it. Instead, Jack was sweet, kind, gentle, generous, perceptive, funny, a little withdrawn, engaging, and so many other things. He didn't give off the impression that he was raised by a deadly criminal assassin at all, especially considering he joined the military. But at the same time, she only just met him, only interacted with him that once, so she would have to reserve her judgement for now.

Bogo and Wolford allowed Vivian to process this information in silence, they had dumped a lot on her after all. Bogo took this time to look at what caused his phone to buzz, raising his eyebrow when he saw it was a dating app notification, he wasn't on any dating apps..unless…."Clawhauser!" Bogo started furiously typing on his phone.

Wolford on the other paw took the time to text his wife Cassandra about Vivian and the prospect of a get together between their eldest pup Ralph and Nick. He liked Vivian, she was a feisty vixen and he knew her and Cassandra would hit it off. He liked little Nick to, and knew Nick could use a friend just like he knew his pup needed one as well, outside of family Ralph tended to keep to himself. Maybe having a friend would help bring him out of his shell.

Both officers now finished with what they were doing tuned back in on Vivian as they saw she was done digesting everything Bogo had just laid on her. Her gaze flicked back up to the officers and she said "thank you for that..my opinion in the matter is honestly undecided."

Wolford nodded at that and replied "that's completely understandable Ms. Wilde. He is after all a mammal you literally just met by your own words. So all you really have is your initial first impression and what you've been told by us."

Vivian nodded and said "that's very true, thank you for telling me Lt. Bogo and thank you both again for helping my kit. Now I do believe I have taken up enough of both of your times and I have one more matter to attend to for today."

Vivian stood and Wolford stood as well while saying "and again your very welcome it was our pleasure to help him, speciesism is something that needs to go away and sooner rather than later. Also honestly I wish you would take up more of our time, the only thing left for us today is paperwork and then more paperwork with a few meetings mixed in. Conversing with you is a welcome distraction."

Bogo chimed in saying "he's not wrong, I'm looking at paperwork that rises above the height of my coffee mug and as you can see his isn't much better."

Vivian laughed at that and replied "I don't envy you there. Well I best let you get to it then, it's not gonna fill itself out after all. It's been a pleasure Lt. Bogo, Officer Wolford."

Vivian stuck out her paw to shake theirs and Bogo leaned down to shake first saying "likewise Ms. Wilde, and you can just call me Adonis. Any friend of Jack's is a friend of mine."

Vivian grasped his giant hoof as best she could and gave a small shake, smoothly replying "well then if we're going by first names, then call me Vivian."

Bogo nodded and said "well that's more than fair."

As Bogo retracted his paw Wolford offered his which Vivian took and gave a good shake. Wolford gave her a smile and said "I may not know Jack enough to call him a friend, but I'll still make that deal. You can call me James."

Vivian gave a little smile and replied "alright then James, I'll take that deal then."

Wolford chuckled as he took his paw back and said "I feel like I just sold a car."

Vivian laughed a little at the bad joke and Bogo simply shook his head and said "I swear your jokes and puns just get worse and worse James."

Wolford just pointed at Vivian and said "hey she laughed!"

Vivian looked at him and swiftly replied "I only laughed at how bad it was."

At that Wolford gave a shocked and deflated look to which Bogo let out a hearty chuckle at and Vivian laughed. Wolford crossed his arms with a huff and said "no one appreciates good comedy anymore."

Vivian crossed her arms and quickly said "we do."

Wolford gasped in mock offense and replied "I am hurt good madam! I do believe I shall resend the first name basis!"

Wolford and Vivian stared at at each for a moment before both began to laugh, Bogo only letting a small smile show. Once the laughing session was over Vivian said "while I enjoyed this, I really need to get going. I'm going to see about renting a new apartment, then I have to set up an appointment to get my son into Paragon Grove private school."

Wolford let out a little whistle at that and replied "Paragon Grove eh? Best dang school in Zootopia. My oldest pup Ralph attends. Only thing is it's a pain in the tail to get in, do you have any sponsors for him?"

Vivian nodded a couple of times and said "yes I do. Jack already put his sponsorship in and I also have the CEO of Sparrowtail Industries putting his hat in."

Wolford let out another whistle at that and replied "wow, a second lieutenant and a CEO are some pretty big sponsors. But I hate to inform you that you need at least four sponsors for your kit."

Before Vivian could get disappointed at that fact Wolford continued. "Fortunately I know of a third sponsor for you, me. I'll gladly sponsor your kit."

Before Vivian could even register a thought on that Bogo quickly chimed in saying "and I'll be his fourth. I know how public schools are, and I know how they are to foxes especially. Quite a few cases have come through here and I've handled them all, along with Wolford here. If you can afford to get him into Paragon Grove I'm more than happy to sponsor him. A CEO of a major company, A second lieutenant of a prestigious military group and branch, a first lieutenant in the ZPD, and one of the finest detectives the ZPD has ever produced. *Bogo smiles and folds his arms* I'd say his entrance is pretty much guaranteed."

Vivian, for a number she had now lost track of in the last few days, was shell shocked. "I. I. I don't know what to say…thank you."

Wolford smiled at that and said "you're very welcome Vivian, we're glad to do it. Here.." Wolford picked up one of his cards and flipped it over, jotting his and Bogo's cellphone numbers onto it before handing it to her. "Here take this, whenever your gonna go to Paragon Grove for the enrollment meeting call us and we'll show and give our endorsements in the flesh. Also, feel free to call my number in general, it'd be nice I think if your son met mine. I think they'd hit it off, also I bet money you and my wife would become fast friends. You're a lot alike."

Vivian took the card and replied "thank you so much, the both of you for this. I never expected this sort of kindness. These last couple of days my life has changed so much for the better and just when I think that's it something else comes along and happens…so thank you….oh and I'm sorry James I've been calling you officer this whole time when I should have been calling you detective."

Bogo chimed in at that saying "oh no I think you just inflated his ego. Should have kept calling him officer."

Wolford let out a "hey" and Vivian chuckled some at that. Vivian stood and walked to the door of Wolford's office she looked back and said "I appreciate everything to have done for my kit and for me. So thank you again. You have a nice day, good luck with the paper work."

Wolford and Bogo nodded in response and the Vivian walked out of the office and the building. Looking around once outside she saw a taxi occupied by a raccoon and flagged it down. Getting in the raccoon nodded at her and said in a surprisingly heavy country accent "howdy ma'am. Where to?"

Vivian blinked once in surprise before saying "1955 Cyprus Grove Lane, Sable Ridge Apartment complex please."

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 **Done! So while I could have continued the chapter this felt like the best place to stop it.**

 **So I know I said this would be a Viv and Nick chapter I am sorry to say that for me a lot of times it does not go as planned. Also I frequently forget about the word limit I have set for myself.**

 **But, I can say with confidence that the next two chapters will be Vivian centered, with Nick making an appearance in the second. But before we get there I have to write and put out a chapter each for my other two stories first.**

 **That being said be on the lookout for the next chapters of A True Brother: The Prolouge and Red Hood: Origins in the coming weeks and months. Also, go check em out if you haven't already!**

 **Well I do believe that's all I had to say so until next time this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you then!**


	13. Chapter 11: The Sable Ridge Apartments

**Hello hello! TheConcernedF0X here with not one but two new chapters! Huzzah! Huzzah! I know. I know. You're all excited. But you gotta get through this author note first….well unless you skip this…but don't do that!**

 **THIS STORY BROKE 100 FOLLOWERS! SWEET CHEESE AND CRACKERS! Never in a million years did I think this would happen with one of my stories! Let alone my first! Thank you all so much! And a hearty hello to all of you who have followed and faved since my last chapter!**

 **Sees Cimar has also faved and followed this story…head explodes again.**

 **Darn, it had just finished healing too. Okay time to answer some reviews**

 **Wildefan23: Yeah this story will never be abandoned even in the case of my death. My beta will take over if that ever happens. I also won't allow this story to go on massive hiatuses either. It is a little tricky balancing three stories that are so completely different plot wise but this system I've developed where I do the chapters in cycles helps immensely. Yes Tamiri has become a good friend in the short time I've known her and her story is fantastic. The fan art she does is a bonus too. How many chapters do I think are left here? Well I'm shooting for 40-60 chapters…so a bunch. Better buckle up for the ride!**

 **Alucardgal: More please? Does two chapters work?**

 **Alright we are getting close to the end of this Author note so, please of you like the story drop a fav, follow, or both. If your just a guest account leave a review! Let me know you were here and what you thought of the chapter! Or chapters in this case. Doesn't have to be long and super descriptive….but if you want to…I won't say no!**

 **Also everyone in general, please do leave a review! Pwwwease? *pleading fox eyes* It can be short, it can be long, it can be medium, it can be positive, it can be negative! (As long as you explain why you didn't like the chapter). I live for the reviews! I live for the feedback!**

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Chapter 11: The Sable Ridge Apartments

After a short 15 minute drive the cab arrived at 1955 Cyprus Grove Lane. The cabbie pulled up in front of the building and put the cab in park, the kind raccoon driver turned to face her and in his heavy country accent said, "That'll be 6.25 ma'am."

Vivian once again could only blink in surprise at his extremely heavy country accent and handed him a ten dollar bill, saying as she did "keep the change sir and thank you."

The raccoon nodded twice and replied "much obliged, or thank you of you don't get the saying."

The raccoon then glanced at the building and said, "this is a great building, my troublesome younger brother lives here. So you a tenant here or looking to become one?"

Vivian looked at the building herself before replying "looking to become one…you mentioned you had a brother that lives here, does he work at Sparrowtail Industries?"

The raccoon nodded and answered, "yep near on everyone that lives here does. He works in the weapons tech area."

Vivian couldn't help but ask. "His name doesn't happen to be Meeko?"

The raccoon gave her a look of surprise and replied "well shoot, yeah that's my little brothers name. You a co-worker of his?"

Vivian gave a small smile and said, "I am now I suppose, I just got hired today. I haven't met him though, I just overheard an amusing phone call regarding him."

The raccoon almost excitedly turned to face her more and said, "well then congratulations! But you said you heard a amusing phone call? Mind telling me what it was about? I'm always eager to get more material to tease him with."

Vivian let out a little laugh and spent a few minutes telling the raccoon about what his bother did and at the end he was laughing heartily. "Hahahahaha Meeko and his two unsatisfiable appetites! Proving himself and snacks! Oh thank you for this I'll be sure to use this against him!"

Vivian smiled at the raccoon and as she started to get out of the cab and said "you're quite welcome, now you have a nice day."

The raccoon smiled at her and in his country drawl called out "it's impossible not now! Good luck on becoming a tenant here! Be warned! The landlord is apparently a little eccentric!"

She simply turned and have the raccoon cabbie a little wave in response and he pulled back into the bustle of they cities traffic.

As she turned back around Vivian took a moment to look at the building, it was a quaint brick complex only 6 stories tall. But the building was wider and longer than it was tall, each story but the first and sixth containing 20 apartments. The first floor only had about five apartments, the rest of it being a lobby and a full amenities gym including a swimming pool. There was a parking garage behind the building as well. Vivian wasn't sure why the sixth floor only had sixteen apartments but she didn't question it.

Vivian knew this quaint apartment building used to be sized for mammals of all sizes but when the current landlord took over they had it resized to fit small to medium large mammals. The reason why is because this building almost exclusively housed mammals that worked at Sparrowtail Industries and most of the mammals that worked there fit within that size range. It suited her just fine as it meant she would be able to meet and socialize with her coworkers more than just a brief pass by at work. The apartment apparently had almost weekly get togethers on the rooftop of which was made into a quaint hangout spot. All in all it was the perfect place to live, and if Jack was to believed she was guaranteed to get in. She was almost giddy.

As Vivian started to walk towards the open glass doors to the complex when she heard a very familiar voice. "Hey Viv wait up!"

Vivian stooped and pivoted to her right and saw her best friend Skye jogging up to her. They gave each other a quick hug before Vivian asked, "Skye what in the world are you doing here?"

Skye gave her a slightly confused look before replying "you didn't see my text? A water pipe busted at my work flushing the place out. So no work. So I figured I would join you in checking this place out. You said this place had several vacancies and honestly I HATE the complex I'm currently at. I know you also said this place is mostly mammals that work at Sparrowtail Industries, so my chances might be slim in getting in. But, I also HATE working at that dingy office so I applied for several different positions at several places for connected to, owned by, or just straight up Sparrowtail Industries. That's what I've been doing all day. I know it's not my dream job as a mechanic working on classic cars but it'll beat working where I'm at."

Vivian quickly pulled out her phone from her purse and sure enough there was a text from Skye laying out all she had just said and asking if she could join Viv in checking out the place. Vivian put her phone away and said, "shoot Skye I'm sorry I missed your text. It's been a busy day for me. Of course you can join me! I bet you could get your fuzzy white butt in here even if you didn't apply at Sparrowtail! But even so I'm glad your finally leaving that dingy office in that dingy cubicle surrounded by those dingy mammals!"

Skye gave her a small smile and replied "so am I. My dream can wait a little while longer, and if I get hired not near as long if I had stayed in that office. The pay Sparrowtail Industries gives out is almost double what I make now! With the extra funds I could easily afford renting here and starting college! Not to mention if I get into college my pay will increase thanks to that nifty program that was cooked up. That way I can get my degree and be one step closer to getting all greasy working on classic cars!"

Vivian gave her a smile and was about to say something when a thought popped into her head that she quickly voiced. "You know, I just might be able to help you get hired."

Skye raised an eyebrow at her and said, "oh, and just how could you do that?"

Vivian pulled her phone back out of her purse and replied "well not only did I get hired earlier, I also made a fast friend of the C.O.O of Sparrowtail Industries, a tanuki named Sarah. Who by the way I'm going out for drinks with Friday or Saturday and you were also invited. She just might be able to help you out."

Skye couldn't help her self dancing excitedly on her paws as her tail swished back and forth. "You really think she could help? And drinks? Heck yeah I'm in!"

Vivian let out a little laugh at her best friend and replied, "only one way to find out."

Opening up her phone she went to her newest contact and sent out a quick text. _"Hey Sarah its Vivian. Got a sec?"_

The reply was almost instant. " _Sure Vivian, what's up?"_

 _"Remember my friend I told you about earlier, Skye?"_

 _"Sure do, what about her?"_

 _"Well one she's in for drinks, I'm thinking Saturday would best. Secondly she just told me she applied at several places tied to, owned by, or straight up Sparrowtail. So I was wondering if there was anything you could do to help get her in?"_

This reply took longer to come by, making Vivian worry she had overstepped the fresh friendship and such. But her worries went away when the reply finally came in. _"Sure I'd be delighted to help her out! I just had to check with my wolf first. He said 'any friend of Jack is a friend of mine, and any friend of a friend of Jack's is also a friend of mine, so get her in here.' All I need is her full name and I can pull up her applications and put her straight through as long as she's properly qualified for the position she's applied for."_

Skye, who was looking over Vivian's shoulder couldn't help but let out a happy squeak at reading the text Sarah wrote. Vivian was quick to type out her response. " _Her full name is Skye Winters."_

 _"Okay, a little later I will look her up and put her through. Now if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of something with my wolf. I'll text you later Viv!"_

Vivian immediately blushed at that last part of Sarah's text, she could only guess what it meant and if Vivian had to guess it wasn't PG rated. Shaking her head a little Vivian put her phone back into her purse and turned to face Skye who was doing what Vivian could best decide as a little happy dance as she spun in little circles.

Once Skye's happy dance was done she quickly gave Vivian a big hug before jumping back and still dancing on her paws said "thank you thank you thank you!" She than began strutting around singing "no more dingy office! no more dingy office! no more dingy office!"

Vivian couldn't help but laugh at her best friends antics. But she knew why she was so elated, Skye was many things, but she was NOT a desk mammal. Skye was all about getting down and dirty, regardless of her luxurious fluffy white fur and her keeping it immaculate 24/7. So whatever positions she applied for definitely weren't going to have her riding a desk, and if so at least it'd be out of the cramped cubicle setting. Which is about the worst place to put mammals like Skye.

Skye finally after a few more moments calmed herself down enough to rejoin Vivian at the open doors to the complex. Skye took Vivian's right arm and hook her in while saying, "ready to go in and tour your potential new home?"

Vivian nodded and simply replied "yep."

Then after another moment she added, "you know…several mammals today have told me the old wolf that runs this place is a little eccentric and an acquired taste. But, I'm best friends with you, so he can't be that bad." Skye's only reply was to lightly smack Vivian's arm before promptly dragging Vivian inside.

As they entered Vivian and Skye looked about the lobby. It was well sized so a wolf could be ridding on another wolf's shoulders and their head wouldn't even brush the ceiling. There was a lot of room, several chairs for varying sizes of mammals set to the left, past the chairs mailboxes for each of the apartments, there was receptionist desk to the right of the door. In front of them further down was two sets of staircases and set in-between them a giant elevator. Further down on the right was a wall of windows and a set of doors leading into the gym where they could see several mammals working out, several of them being foxes of varying species.

Suddenly their gaze was torn away by the sound of a drumroll playing and then a voice over the intercom. "Ladies and….well ladies! Introducing the one and only dashing, charming, and goood looking landlord to this fiiinnneee apartment complex…Marcus Oliver!"

Once the announcement was over the brown and black wolf jumped up from behind the receptionist desk holding a speaker in his left paw, drumsticks in his right paw, and a little drum set slung around his neck. He was dressed in a maroon colored suit with a purple vest and tie and wore a top hat with a maroon sash around it. He had this huge grin on his face as he stood there waiting for them to say something. For obvious reasons they were speechless.

Marcus Oliver stood there for another moment waiting for them to have some sort of reaction other than confusion and shock. "Sorry, did I drum it on you to hard?"

Marcus Oliver quickly slid a tiny cymbal into view and quickly hit the drums. *ba dum tsst* and then gestured with both paws, a drumstick in each one. "huh? Huh? No? Eh worth a shot."

Marcus then shrugged, slid the cymbal away, put down the drumsticks, and then took off the drum and tossed it behind him. It banging around as it landed. He then climbed over the desk and sat on top of it tossing away the top hat as he did, and stuck out his paw. "Marcus Oliver, impeccable dresser, as charming as I am dashing, comedic genius, and landlord of the Sable Ridge Apartments. And you are?"

Skye and Vivian could only stand there and blink in surprise for that moment, Vivian thinking, " _okay I get what everyone's been saying. He IS a little….eccentric. Skye did NOT prepare me for this."_

Skye meanwhile was debating whether or not coming here was a good idea. Regardless she recovered and stuck out her paw and shook Marcus' outstretched one. "Skye Winters, the still speechless vixen next to me is Vivian Wilde. She's looking to get a tour of the place, she's a potential new tenant. I'm just the best friend along for the ride currently."

Marcus smile somehow got a little wider and he replied, "no worries, I have that effect on the ladies…and well everyone else actually.…anyways! Glad to give you a tour of the place, show you some of the vacant apartments and such."

Skye nudged Vivian once as Marcus Oliver turned around muttering something about where he tossed his top hat and put his cane. That snapped Vivian out of it and she quickly apologized just as Marcus found his top hat. "I'm sorry Mr. Oliver about just gawking at you it's just…"

Marcus spun around on them placing his top hat back on his head and a simple straight black cane appearing out of nowhere. He twirled it a few times as he interrupted her with "I'm so good looking? Eccentric? Clinically insane?"

Once again Skye and Vivian could only blink. Vivian slowly finishing her sentence, "it's just you're not what I was expecting."

Marcus paused his cane twirling mid twirl and replied, "oh, well I get told that a lot too! Now follow me! We'll start this tour off by me showing you the gym! This way!"

Marcus then began walking towards the entrance to the gym, twirling his cane and humming a little tune to himself as he went. Vivian and Skye began tepidly following him, Vivian looked over at her best friend and mouthed. "This wolf is nutters!"

Skye rapidly nodded a few times and mouthed. "No kitting! There's no way he's the landlord! The local loony sure but not the landlord!"

Vivian shook her head at that and mouthed her reply. "I mean I wouldn't think so. But the CEO of Sparrowtail Industries told me the landlord was a kind old black and brown wolf named Marcus Oliver."

She then gestured to Marcus and mouthed. "He's a black and brown wolf bvh gnb named Marcus Oliver. Let's just see how this goes."

Skye shrugged and simply mouthed "okay, we'll see."

Vivian and Skye picked up the pace to catch up to Marcus as he reached the door. He quickly opened up for them and gave them a little bow, "ladies first."

Vivian and Skye walked into the gym, Marcus right behind them. Now that they were inside it they could see it really did have all the amenities. All the equipment you could think of for both the causal and the hardcore workout mammals. A whole bunch of weights and by them what looked like some punching bags and sparing equipment to the back right. Past all of the weights and machines and such was a separate area which contained a simple rectangular pool with a diving board.

As Vivian and Skye looked around the gym their eyes were drawn to the group of foxes working out. There were four of them, all tods and all shirtless as they used a mix of weights and equipments. All four of the tods were also different species of fox. There was an arctic, a marbled, a silver, and finally a red. All four of them were stealing glances at the two vixens, well accept the red fox tod, he was pointedly staring at Vivian with open interest.

While all four of these tods were very good looking both vixens weren't showing any interest of their own. While Skye did admit these tods were quite handsome she only had eyes for a certain striped jackrabbit. Vivian on the other paw was appreciating what she was seeing but not interested in any of them. She immediately dismissed looking at the marbled and the arctic fox as they were very clearly gay and a couple. The tip of the marbled foxes tail and long styled hair on his head was dyed rainbow and the arctic probably couldn't stop staring at the marbled's ass if their life depended on it. The silver fox while attractive was simply not her type.

The red tod on the other paw was clearly the most attractive of the group. He was muscular, lean, well groomed, his fur a lighter auburn and the cream fur on his chest fluffy and white. His eyes were a robin blue and he's ears were all the way the light auburn. His tail was tipped a rich white and on his face was lightly speckled with dots of black fur. All in all he was simply hot, and Vivian was honestly surprised she wasn't as interested or attracted in him as she thought she might be. As she looked at his form it suddenly clicked as to why, while he was indeed attractive she was comparing him to Jack. " _He's too short, his fur color isn't that attractive, I wish his tails and ears were dipped black, blue eyes aren't that good looking."_

Once she realized that she was dismissing the red tod because he didn't look enough like Jack, a fox she only knew a day Vivian chided herself. " _Come on Vivian get yourself together! What am I doing! I'm thinking about Jack like some high schooler with a crush! Here I am looking at a handsome tod but giving him a critical eye just because he doesn't look like a tod I only met for a single day! Not to mention I hardly know anything at all about Jack! What is wrong with me!?"_

Vivian was ripped out of her thoughts though when Marcus spun around them and exclaimed "so this is the gym! As you can see it really is a full amenities gym, there's even showers and such this way!"

Marcus then strode over to two doors to the left of the gym and tapped on them with his cane "see here! I've been even considering putting in some saunas!"

He gave them another big grin at that and was about to say something else when a clipboard in between the two doors caught his eye. Marcus gave the clipboard a curious look before setting his cane against the wall and picking the clipboard. He looked at it for a moment before putting it back and saying, "would you two fine ladies excuse me for just a minute? I need to check something."

Without another word or waiting for a reply Marcus picked his cane back up and strode into the right door designated for males. One the door swung shut Skye and Vivian turned their attention back to the foxes working out. Skye had to ask. "Okay that wolf that just went through the door, is he really the landlord of this place?"

At that all of the tods let out a collective laugh and once it was done the silver tod pointed a thumb to the door and said, "Old Marcus Oliver? He sure is."

At that Skye gave him a blank look. "Your kidding."

This time the arctic tod chimed in. "Nope, trust me when we first came here we were just as surprised."

Skye moved her paws about as she said her next words. "It's just that he's…."

All of the tods finished her sentence in different ways in the order of arctic, marbled, silver, and red. "Nuts?"

"Loony?"

"Completely off his rocker?"

"A little bit off?"

Skye looked at all of them before nodding once and simply saying "yes."

At that Vivian let out a little laugh and the red tod chimed in. "Ha, well allow me to introduce everyone, the dashing silver fox is Blake (Blake waves), the flamboyant marbled is Jimmy (Jimmy curtsies), the arctic who can't stop staring at Jimmy's ass long enough to acknowledge other mammals presences in the room is Jimmy's significant other Ben, (Ben let's out a accusatory 'hey!'), and I am Vincent, Vince for short."

Vivian waved herself and said "well hello all, my name is Vivian, my arctic compatriot is Skye."

Vince smiled at her and replied "it's a pleasure. You know, we all actually ran into you earlier today."

Vivian gave a small look of surprise at that. "Oh? When?"

Vince chuckled at that and replied, "it was at Sparrowtail Industries Headquarters. We were all on our way out the door when you walked by with our C.O.O Sarah. I happen to remember she was waiting for a vixen named Vivian to show up and apply, so I take it she was waiting for you?"

Vivian nodded and said, "yes I came in to apply and was also hired. I start in a week."

All four tods gave her congratulations in varying ways Vince being the loudest. "Hey that's great! Must have made an impression, the hiring process is rather quick but normally not that fast. So what's your field or position?"

"Oh I am now the CEO's secretary."

At that the four tods gave collective looks of surprise before they quickly settled. Jimmy saying "well look at you girl, strolled in like it was nothing. I'm impressed."

Ben nodded a few times and said, "ditto."

Vince smirked at her and folded his arms saying, "good, about time that position got filled. Was pretty sure for awhile there Mr. Wolfgang was gonna start ripping his fur out."

Blake nodded to Vince before focusing his gaze on Skye and said, "I'll second that. But I'm more curious about you Skye. What do you do?"

Skye gave Blake a look of surprise, she had been to busy imagining her striped jackrabbit stripping off his clothes to notice the silver fox tod Blake's interest in her. While it was flattering that she could still draw an attractive tods eye, well he just wasn't her type. "Well I just quit my job in a dingy office, and also just applied at several Sparrowtail locations for several positions. So I'm not quite sure yet…and by the way I am already a taken vixen."

Blake nodded at that and snapped his fingers. "Shoot, well whoever they are is sure lucky."

At that it went quiet for just a moment before Skye once again couldn't help but make Marcus the topic of discussion. "Okay so I can't get over this quite yet, Marcus really is the landlord? What's his story?"

The tods laughed once again at this, Vivian joining in this time. It was Vince who started. "Haha yes he really is the landlord. And by the way it's not Marcus, it's Marcus Oliver, or Mr. MO. The MO being an acronym for Marcus Oliver of course. He prefers it that way."

This time Vivian chimed in, "why does he prefer it that way?"

Vince nodded and replied "he said it's easier that way..how to word this next part….okay so you know his last name is obviously Oliver right?"

Vivian and Skye both replied "right."

Blake took over the next part by saying, "well you see no one actually knows if that's true or not. Oliver is as we all know is typically a first or middle name. But what's not commonly known is there is no Oliver wolf pack. So Oliver could very well be just his middle name…or his second name."

Ben chimed in next. "The latter being the more likely. He's basically got two personalities as it is."

Jimmy nodded in confirmation and added. "Sometimes he's Marcus, sometimes he's Oliver.""

Vivian and Skye exchanged looks before Skye asked, "which one is he now?"

All four tods answered in unison. "Marcus."

Vince added to it by saying, "he's definitely Marcus right now. If Marcus Oliver is dressed well ridiculously, is saying puns and corny jokes, is being loud, can't stop smiling and acting all happy..thats Marcus. If Marcus Oliver is dressed normally, is kind, open, sincere, gentle, serious, less exuberant…that's Oliver. But that doesn't mean he stays exclusively one or the other throughout the whole day, he's prone to go back and forth."

Vivian nodded a few times before saying "so he had D.I.D."

All of the mammals present except for Jimmy have her a look of confusion so Jimmy elaborated for her. "She means Dual Identity Disorder. Also known as Dual Personality Disorder. It's pretty self explanatory, a mammal that has more than one personality."

Everyone that was momentarily confused gave collective "ohs"

Meanwhile Vivian was impressed Jimmy knew what she was talking about. "That's exactly right Jimmy. How'd you know that?"

Before Jimmy could answer her Ben jumped in and answered, always happy to sing his mates praises. "It may not look it but my Jimmy here is one of Sparrowtail Industries top Biochemists! He even leads a team of about a dozen mammals in that field!" After he exclaimed that Ben wrapped Jimmy up in a hug, their tails intertwining.

Vince only chuckled at that and Blake rolled his eyes and said "oh get a room you two."

Ben simply snuggled into Jimmy more and replied "oh we already have one and plan to use it."

Everyone let out a laugh at that and once it subsided Vivian said, "that's really impressive. The top biochemist part not the I have a room and plan on using it part."

The four tods chuckled at the joke and Jimmy replied, "why thank you. Now about the D.I.D, I'm not entirely sure he has it. I mean it's the most likely option, but it could just be an act for comedy purposes. Honestly we just don't know, there is even a betting pool going."

Skye immediately after hearing there was a betting pool pulled out a 20 from her purse and said, "I got 20 on him having two personalities."

Vivian could help but laugh at her best friends antics before saying, "so we know what you do Jimmy, but what about the rest of you?"

Ben nodded and spoke first. "Well I am a secondary lead of a two dozen mammal team working on advanced prosthetics. I am in charge of the tech aspect not the medical."

Blake spoke next saying, "I work in the weapons and military technology divisions leading a team of six on advanced bomb detection and diffusion devices, we're pretty close to a working prototype for the former. The latter is naturally proving troublesome. But we're making progress."

Vincent finished it off. "I wish I was doing stuff as cool as they are. But I am a simple accountant."

Vincent was going to leave it at that but Jimmy wouldn't let him, "oh no you don't. Mr. Modest here is the LEAD accountant for Zootopia's branch of Sparrowtail Industries, in charge of over four dozen mammals within Zootopia's borders."

Hearing all of this warmed both Vivian and Skye's hearts. It was so amazing to hear foxes have such big and important roles in such a huge company. Things really were on the up and up for foxes and Sparrowtail Industries was a shining beacon for it. Skye let out a breath of awe and said "wow that is amazing. All of you have such huge and important jobs!"

Vivian couldn't help but agree with Skye, making eye contact with Vince as she said. "It really is impressive."

Vincent gave her a warm smile and replied. "Ah it ain't nothing, I'm just real good with numbers. All of us are just really good at what we do, Sparrowtail Industries gave us the chance to show that."

Vince looked like he had more to say but at that moment Marcus Oliver finally emerged from the men's room exclaiming. "I am so very sorry ladies to keep you waiting so long to see the rest of this fine establishment! But the work of landlord is never done! The men's room had not been maintained at all today as it properly should have!"

Marcus Oliver quickly stood back over to them and once beside them Vivian said, "it's no worry Mr..MO?"

Marcus Oliver gave Vivian a surprised grin and he exclaimed, "wellll now! I was worried I'd have to correct you on my namesake!"

Mr. MO then spun on Vince and the rest and said, "I guess you've been keeping these two company with some fiiinnneee conversation! Good on ya Vincent! Always the gentlemammal!"

Vince gave Mr. MO a smile and replied "it was my genuine pleasure."

Marcus Oliver then looked to the rest and gave them a bow. "And a hearty thank you to the rest of you as well!"

He was met with responses of sure, no problem, and happy to do it. Mr. MO looked at the group before giving them a mischievous grin. "So I take it I was a topic of discussion along with introductions hmmm?"

At that all the mammals became slightly nervous before he continued. "Well I can't blame you! I ammmm amazing!"

All the mammals present gave an internal sigh of relief, until he got and even more mischievous grin. "So! Blake!" At that Marcus Oliver pointed a finger at Blake causing him to let out a confused "yes?"

"I am sorry to inform you that this arctic beauty that's standing next to this red beauty is taken, spoken for, off the market…you get the picture. So I shall save you from trying to draw her eye now."

Blake's ears pinned behind his head in awkward confused embarrassment. Skye for her part was shocked that Marcus Oliver somehow knew she was taken, her Jack hadn't marked her yet and she carried no scent of him or and sort of trace…so how?

She couldn't muse on it more because Vince was next apparently. Mr. MO pointed sharply to Vince and shouted out "Vincent!" And for the briefest of moments Vincent was a kit again back at home getting called for. "Yes sir!?"

At that everyone including Marcus Oliver began laughing, Vincent's ears going back in embarrassment. Once Mr. MO finished his laugh he said, "1. No one here is EVER gonna let you live that one down. 2. This fine red beauty is siinngglleee and possibly ready to mingle! So I'll let that pot stir a bit! This has been Marcus Oliver, potential matchmaker. Goodnight everyone."

At this point Vivian was completely flustered and so was Vince by the looks of it, the rest chuckling at their expense. Of course Mr. MO gave Vivian and Vince no chance to get over it as he just bowled forward. Marcus Oliver grabbed a hold of Skye and Vivian's shoulders and began steering them towards the doors saying "Well okay mammals time to move this tour along! Once again thank you you fine gentlemammals for keeping them entertained while their main source was away! Say goodbye now!"

As Vivian and Skye were more or less pushed towards the doors the group of tods called out varying goodbyes, Vincent saying his last and adding to it.

"Uh, goodbye I guess."

"Catch you two later!"

"See ya around."

"Hey it was nice meeting you two! Hope you come to live here! And hey if you do there's a weekly get together going on on the roof Saturday!"

Before Vivian or Skye could reply, Marcus Oliver got them it the door. "Okay you two, lets go checkout the parking garage and then some vacant apartments!"


	14. Chapter 12: Jack's Apartment

Chapter 12: Jacks Apartment

Marcus Oliver led them through the lobby and out another set of doors leading into the parking garage. Once there Marcus Oliver let them go exclaiming "sorry to lead you fast like that ladies! But! Those tods are chit chatty! They always leave you standing there waiiiitttiiinnnngggg!" .

Marcus Oliver's explanation just left them more confused, but it was pretty much the default it seemed. Marcus Oliver simply kept going. "So this is our parking garage, not much to look at I know. 8 levels and parking spaces are designated to your apartment number, each apartment getting two parking spots. This is the top level and as so corresponds to the top floor of the complex. Entry to the garage is accessed by I.D tags you place on your front windshield."

Vivian nodded along as Mr. MO explained. Simply commenting "nifty." About the I.D tags. Skye on the other hand was busy geeking out about the two classic muscle cars directly to their left, just barely resisting the urge to start walking around them and inspecting them. Marcus Oliver of course took notice of this. "You like those cars madam?"

Skye gave him a look of a kit in a candy store and exclaimed, "like them!? I love them!"

Vivian only shook her head at her best friend in amusement, Skye was drawn to classic cars like moths were to lamps. Skye couldn't contain her self any longer and speed walked over to the cars, beginning to walk around them. "A 1970 Chevelle SS and a 1972 Dodge Challenger RT! These cars are mint!"

As Skye circled the cars Marcus Oliver leaned towards Vivian and murmured "a passion of hers I take it?"

Vivian only smiled and replied, "yep, just gonna have to let it run its course."

Skye then began breaking down the cars, starting with the Chevelle. " Sky Blue metal flake paint, black racing stripes, custom interior, internals modernized, seat belts, A/C, airbags, custom window tint, custom tires, the chassis is reinforced, tires are….puncture proof…and the windows..(Skye taps the glass) are bulletproof?"

Skye then shifted her focus to the Challenger. "A brushed steel finish, carbon fiber hood, definitely a bigger and more powerful engine, custom exhaust, interiors also custom, internals modernized, and once again…reinforced chassis, puncture proof tires, and bulletproof windows."

Skye turned back towards them a happy loom on her face as she said, "these cars are great! Though I don't get why the owner made it so they could take a grenade explosion and keep going."

Vivian couldn't help but agree with the first part, her eye being drawn to the Chevelle and finding it unable to leave it. She was also just as confused to as why the cars would be so reinforced. Marcus Oliver provided the answer. "Yes the big fox that owns these two cars is very…paranoid. He likes to be prepared for the worst case at all times. Or so he tells me. Heh and if you think I'm peculiar!"

Vivian once again found herself nodding along as Marcus Oliver explained. But then something fully registered for her. "Wait a second, did he just say the big fox that owns these?...this can't be a coincidence can it?"

Vivian turned fully to Marcus Oliver and asked, "I'm sorry, did you say a big fox owns these cars?"

Marcus Oliver gave Vivian a curious look and slowly replied "yes I did, why?"

At this point Skye stopped circling the two cars, catching what her best friend has said. She has similar thoughts on the matter. " _A big fox owns these cars? If this is just a coincidence I'm a jackrabbit and my Jack is a fox._ "

Vivian hesitated for just a moment before asking the question. "Does his name on chance happen to be Jack?"

Marcus Oliver's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "As a matter of fact yes. Jackson T. Hunter."

Vivian tilted her head ever so slightly at that. " _Huh, Jackson. His full name is Jackson…it suites him."_

Then suddenly another part of her brain chimed in. " _Well that solves the problem if you're dating him and him and Skye's jackrabbit were ever in the same room._ "

Vivian mentally recoiled in shock. " _Woah woah woah! Come on brain stop throwing me curve balls in the middle of conversations! I don't want to end up like Marcus Oliver here!"_

Marcus Oliver on his part connected a few dots. " _Ahhhh, so this is why she's POTENTIALLY ready to mingle. Jack you sly fox you….so this means this is the vixen Demetri was telling me about…things just got a lot more interesting…and fun._ "

Marcus Oliver's ever present grin took a slightly mischievous glint to it. "Wellll now! So you know Jackson Hunter do you?"

Vivian tepidly nodded and replied. "Yes, I do. We sort of just met and he's the reason I'm even here looking at this place to live, he's the reason I have my new job as well…so..I take it since his cars are here..he lives here?"

Marcus Oliver's smile got even more mischievous as he said, "well isn't that something. You'll have to tell me the full story now. But to answer your question he sure does, this is his building after all."

If there had been a record playing, it just screeched to a stop. Vivian's brain immediately overloaded and Skye's jaw dropped. Marcus Oliver meanwhile adopted a look of satisfaction on his face at the two vixens reactions. Skye was naturally the first to recover. "Mr. MO, what do you mean this is his building?"

Mr. MO placed both his paws on his cane as he leaned forward and said, "well when Sparrowtail Industries first got started, Mr. Hunter approached me. He said my building was the perfect size and location to house a lot of mammals that would end up working at the headquarters, I had only recently resized the building and therefore only had a few tenants as it was. So he offered my triple what the building was actually worth to have Sparrowtail Industries take over ownership. I obviously accepted that offer. I also gave him the best apartment since he was going to live here. I expected to be well out of the job right there and then. But then he tells me, 'I just want to own the building, but I don't want to be the landlord and collect rent and all that. I already have all the money I could ever want and I don't want our need the responsibilities. You can stay as the landlord, live here, and collect the tenants rent. I only ask you put 5% back into Sparrowtail Industries.' Naturally I didn't refuse that offer either."

It was at this point Vivian's brain recovered. She had registered everything Marcus Oliver had said, and it sure as hell sounded like Jack from what's she'd learned about him these past 24 hours. Except for the most recent bit she learned at the ZPD. Vivian nodded a few times and said "yes, that sounds like Jack…of course he neglected to mention he owned or lived in this building…but at this point for some reason that doesn't surprise me."

Marcus Oliver nodded a few times at that. "Yes, Jack always plays all of his cards close to his chest. Even when he doesn't have too. Well, how about we move this tour along to looking at some vacant apartments, and while we're doing that you can tell me the story of how you and Jackson came to meet."

Marcus Oliver led them out of the parking garage and into the elevator. They then spent the next 20 minutes viewing a couple of vacant apartments, during so Vivian telling Marcus Oliver how she met Jack. He kept quiet for most of it, asking questions every now and then. He kept a mostly contemplative look on his face as Vivian spoke. " _Hmm, definitely the reason she's potentially ready to mingle…Jackson is a good lad…but there's a lot of grey area and mystery to him…a lot of skeletons hidden away in his closet. There's a dark splotch on him, a big one..and as much as I think he's a fine mammal…. He's mysterious, and he's dangerous..very dangerous…and something tells me he's been kicking some hornets nests with what's in his apartment. I can tell Vivian is interested in him, if she wants to pursue him or whatever…she needs to know beforehand."_

Vivian finally concluded her story just as they reached the top floor, and the final vacant apartment. Skye had shown great interest in an apartment two floors down and had left shortly after touring it. Her jackrabbit had gotten off work early and wanted to got out so she had practically ran out the door, telling Vivian she would call later. So Marcus Oliver made a mental note to place a hold on that apartment. But this one was for Vivian and he was certain she would want it for several reasons. "Well, that's quite the story, and knowing Jack as I do it doesn't surprise me. (Marcus Oliver walks over to the door marked 11A) Alright Vivian, I saved the best for last."

Vivian gave him a small smile and replied. "Of course you did."

Marcus Olivier pulled out his master key and inserted it into the door and unlocking it. He then opened the door and beckoned her to enter. "Madam."

Vivian nodded to him and as she went by she said, "such a gentlemammal."

Mr. MO chuckled and replied, "my mom would rise from her grave and beat me with her cane if I forgot my manners."

Vivian let out a laugh at that as she fully entered the apartment and cast her gaze around it with enthusiasm. Marcus Oliver came to stand beside her and began breaking down what she was seeing. "As you can see, this Apartments floor plan is more open and modern than the other two. It's also the newest, everything recently being redone. It's also larger than the other two by 50 square feet, add the fact that this one is sized specifically for a fox and then it's more like 250 square feet. Oh and it's furnished, and all of the furnishings come with the apartment, but you can switch and change them out as you please. There are three bedrooms, two baths one being the master bath."

Mr. MO then pointed to the individual closed doors, stating what was behind each on. This little door here on our left is a small storage closest. This door on our right leads to the master bedroom. The three doors at the end in front of us is bedroom, bathroom, bedroom. Feel free to look around and explore."

Vivian simply nodded to Mr. MO and padded further into the apartment, stopping in the middle. She couldn't help herself as she spun in a 360 looking at it all at once. The paint on the walls was a very light blue expect for the back left wall, which was a nice yellow. All of the furniture matched and complimented the paint scheme, making the place nice and bright. In fact the whole feel of the apartment gave it a nice sunny day feel to it.

Vivian turned her left to fully take stock of the living room. It was all situated facing a electric fire place, real heat, fake flames, no smoke. A big smart tv sat situated above the mantle and the façade was painted white brick. On the floor was a nice patterned yellow and white rug and on top of it a nice glass coffee table with metal legs and frame. To the right of the coffee table was a rotatable muted white chair, and to the left a yellow reading chair and behind the reading chair was a decent sized white bookcase set against the wall. Behind the coffee table was a very nice quality light blue couch that looked so comfy, the two pillows resting on the arms also looked nice and soft, their color being yellow.

Vivian then turned her attention to her right, to the kitchen. There was a decent sized island the facade and granite countertop white in color. The island containing a deep sink, the dishwasher, ample storage, and on the right side of it some stools for a eating meals. Past the island was the rest of the kitchen, set against the entire right wall and wrapping where the master bedroom and spare bedroom were. There was a ton of cabinets, all white running under the white granite countertops. On the far right was a nice stainless steel stove and on the far left was a big stainless steel fridge with the freezer set in the bottom of it. All in all it was an amazing kitchen, to bad she wasn't the greatest cook. But with a kitchen like this she could work on improving her cooking.

Next she entered the master bedroom, its color scheme a myriad of blues, whites, and greens. There was a nice bed to the left with plenty of pillows and nightstands on either side with lamps on top. To the right was a dresser, a full body mirror, and a little makeup nook. To the front on the left past the bed was the entrance to a decently sized walk in closet. Straight ahead of her was the entrance to the master bath. Walking into it she saw dual sinks, the toilet to the right, and to the left a walk in shower and…a fur dryer!? Vivian gave a small happy dance at that! The biggest hassle for her luxurious fur was the ungodly time it took to dry it.

She spent another ten minutes checking out the two other bedrooms and bathroom before rejoining Marcus Oliver. "This ones just perfect MR. MO! I do believe I'll take it."

Marcus Oliver gave her a big grin and exclaimed "well that's great! And it so happens I already have the paperwork on me to lease an apartment! I always do just in case! So let's take a seat and you can fill everything out! Now, if you don't have the deposit ready at paw right now a 48 hour hold will be placed while you get the funds."

Vivian and him moved to the couch to begin going through the forms and as they did Vivian replied, "that's quite fine, I have the deposit ready."

It took about fifteen minutes for Vivian to fill out everything and sign, passing the pen to Mr. MO so he could place his signature. He spent a minute looking the forms over before standing and offering her a paw. "Well Ms. Wilde congratulations. You are now a tenant at the Sable Ridge Apartments."

Vivian took his paw and gave it a firm shake. "Why thank you. I'm just glad to be getting myself and my kit out of Happytown."

Mr. MO nodded at that and with a slightly grim tone replied, "yes..we really should petition to have that places name changed."

Vivian just nodded at that and replied "no kidding."

MR. MO stood then and started patting at his pockets and after a moment of searching for something said, "hm. Normally I keep all of the vacant apartment keys on me as well so I can hand them over straight away. But I seem to have not this one time. So here let me walk you out and when we hit the first floor I'll swing by and grab your key."

"That's fine with me."

They both exited the apartment then, Marcus Oliver turning to lock the door. When he turned back though, his gaze didn't go to Vivian. Instead, it went to the door two doors down. It went to Jack's apartment. What he had thought of early came back to the forefront of his mind and a plan was quickly hatched. Pointing to the door he said, "that's Jack's apartment right over there you know."

Vivian quickly swung around to see where he was pointing. " _Sweet Karma I'm going to be living two doors down from Jack! Why in the world didn't he tell me he lived here! He had no reason not too!"_

Vivian tried to maintain her composure as she spoke. "Oh he does?"

Marcus Oliver wanted to laugh at her utter failure to keep her expression neutral. "Yep, you know….I was about to go in there..since he's gone I make sure the place stays clean and collect his mail. So, you wanna go in there with me?"

Vivian's immediate reaction was to say no. That it would be an invasion of Jack's privacy to go into his apartment and look around. But, at the same time…she admitted she wanted to get to know Jack, to learn more about him, to peel back his layers. She also admitted she was developing a tiny crush on him, but it was hard not to in her defense. She had already learned a lot about him today, including something even Jack himself didn't even know about his own life. Then there was the most recent piece of information she had learned about him…a part that worried her. Going in there just might shed some more light on it, and it would definitely shed more light on the mysterious tod.

"I really should say no…"

"But you're curious. Jackson came into your life out of nowhere, completely turned it around, and then just like that he was gone. While there he practically told you nothing about him and what he did tell he left the details incredibly sparse. He even neglected to tell you things that otherwise he should have told you and not omitted. Like for instance the apartment complex he recommends you check out to live is in fact the one he lives at."

Vivian just nodded and replied. "Yes, exactly."

Marcus Oliver tapped his cane once on the ground and then began walking towards Jackson's door. "Well then, allow me to somewhat sate that curiosity to the conundrum of the red fox tod that is Jackson T. Hunter."

Vivian finally gave into her burning curiosity and began to follow Mr. MO. "Okay then."

Approaching Jack's door Vivian noticed it didn't have your typical lock. This one had a keypad and a paw scanner along with a odd looking keyhole. Vivian tilted her head ever so slightly as she studied it and Mr. MO explained it to her. "Jackson is quite paranoid. This is a three step lock, first you scan your paw, next the key code, then you insert the key and turn it in a specific combination to unlock the door. This makes it literally impossible to pick the door open."

Marcus Oliver then went through the motions to get the door unlocked, making her turn around when it came time for the keypad and turning combination. Once she heard the telltale sound of a drop unlocking did she turn back around. Just in time for Mr. MO to swing the door open and beckon her to walk inside. When so did she was immediately blown away, Jack's apartment was HUGE! It was easily twice the size of the apartment she just got! It even had a loft! Jack's apartment was basically luxury! All the furniture and fixtures, counters etc. were fit to a wolf and foxes size making everything seem huge. A large open concept floor with the big kitchen to the right with a large island in the middle, to the left was the living room with a single large couch in front of a coffee table and a 70 inch TV, past both was a large open area with nothing and to the right was the stairs to the loft and the left the main bathroom, a spare bedroom, and a large closet.

Vivian spun to face Marcus Oliver and asked, "how is this apartment in this complex!?"

Mr. MO laughed at that and replied, "well when I was having this complex resized I decided to leave this apartment elephant sized and then gut it and put wolf sized furniture in it. Put the loft in too. I was planning to have this as my apartment so I had it made exactly how I would want it. But, when Jack bought the building I decided why not and gave him this apartment. It was to be the landlords apartment after all. He was actually surprised when I gifted him the apartment, and at the time that was about the only time I had see his face have any expression on it at all. He paid to have the furniture changed to fox and wolf size."

Vivian nodded along to Marcus Oliver's explanation when something caught her ear. "What do you mean at the time it was about the only expression he gave?"

Mr. MO elaborated. "Well when I first met Jack about four…no three years ago he pulled up in front of this building in that Challenger in the garage at the exact moment I had walked out. He got out of his car dressed in an all black suit, black sunglasses on his muzzle, and he was even wearing a pair of black dress shoes. The second he looked at me I felt utterly intimidated and even more so when he strode over to me. Once he was right in front of me he introduced himself, and it wasn't his real name."

Marcus Oliver paused to deposit his cane in the umbrella bin next to him and shut the apartment door before continuing. "He said, 'Mr. Oliver, for now it's best if you simply know me by Mr. NightOwl. I represent a company that is just about to launch, Sparrowtail Industries. We just recently bought a skyscraper as our headquarters about 15 minutes from here. The reason I'm here is because we will be mostly having medium to medium large sized mammals in our employ, and a mass majority of them being predators. Your building is both the ideal size and location to house a lot of them. So, I'd like to offer you 2.5 million Zollars to purchase the building from you."

Marcus Oliver paused again and walked over to the couch and sat down beckoning Vivian to join him. Once she did he continued. "That entire time, and every moment after. He never once had any sort of expression on his face he kept it completely blank. He kept his voice in a neutral tone and even his body didn't betray a thing, the only time his tail would move was when walking so he stayed balanced. It only added to his aura of danger and intimidation. Of course at the time I didn't know he was only 16, but that's besides the point."

Vivian absorbed all of the information she was just given. " _So at 16 he had that Challenger, was wearing a expensive all black suit with dress shoes, which is odd in itself. He gave off a strong aura of intimidation and danger, and was already able to buy this building for 2.5 million zollars. Then there's the strangest fact, he didn't give Mr. MO his real name. He said it was best for that time if he was simply known as Mr. NightOwl…I'll have to ask Demetri about that part."_

Vivian shook her head once and said out loud, "the mystery to Jack..son.. deepens."

Before Marcus Oliver could say a response a question popped up in her head that she quickly asked. "Was Jack armed when you met him?"

Mr. MO gave her an odd look before replying, "as a matter of fact he was, a black 1911 on his right hip. Why do you ask?"

Vivian then spent the next ten minutes or so telling him what she had learned about Jack at the ZPD. Marcus Oliver the entire time kept a thoughtful look upon his face and when she finished he took off his top hat and set it on the couch beside him. He then nodded a few times and said, "well then that explains this somewhat."

Before Vivian could ask what Marcus Oliver meant by that he shot his right foot out hitting the right side of the coffee table. This caused the front of the coffee table to suddenly open up and a rack popped out and up containing an assault rifle. Vivian jumped back in shock exclaiming "my gods!"

Marcus Oliver just nodded a few times at that and said, "yeah that was pretty much my reaction when I discovered it by accident. What your looking at is a HK M416C with a holographic sight, 2x magnifier, angled grip, and suppresser. The weapon also is fully automatic and Jack has it set to that setting. It still has its serial number and I checked it, its registered to Jack and he has an actual permit allowing him to own fully automatic weaponry. So the weapon is legal, but my question always was why would he have it? And why put it in some contraption in his coffee table? What you just told me helped finally understand part of why…but at the same time does it fully explain this?"

Marcus Oliver then reached in between the two cushions and pulled out a menacing looking revolver. "Smith and Wesson 357. Magnum 327 performance center R8. It's an eight shot mean as all hell revolver."

He then put it back, pushed the rack back into the coffee table, and then put the table on its side revealing a sub machine gun that was on the bottom of it. "HK MP7, only fully automatic."

He then reached under the couch and pulled out a shotgun. "Benelli Super 90. Semi auto."

He put the shotgun back and fixed the coffee table before standing and gesturing to the whole apartment. "In practically every square inch of this place is a gun! I won't pull every single one out but I'll show you some of the more interesting ones starting in the kitchen. Come on follow me."

Vivian slowly stood and followed him as he strode into the kitchen. First thing he did was point to a hanging cabinet. "Just a regular looking cabinet right? Someplace he'd probably but his cereal right?"

Vivian unsure of what she should say said, "right?"

Marcus Oliver nodded and said as he opened that cabinet revealing some boxes of cereal. "Normally you'd be right, and there is indeed cereal in here. But what I want to show you is BEHIND the cereal."

Moving a box of lucky chomps out of the way Marcus Oliver pulled out a grenade launcher. "He has an M320 grenade launcher. In his kitchen. BEHIND HIS BOXES OF CEREAL. A. GRENADE. LAUNCHER. The ONLY upside to this absurdity is its loaded with a smoke grenade round. But still, A. GRENADE. LAUNCHER. BEHIND HIS BOXES OF CEREAL."

He gave her no chance to react to that as he strolled over to a drawer and opened it. "This is Jackson's silverware drawer. Let's see we have your forks, knives, spoons, FRAGMENTATION GRENADES, and lastly your flashbangs." For the last two items Marcus Oliver pulled out one of each.

Once again he gave her no time to react as he then strolled over to another hanging cabinet and threw it open. "This is his spice cabinet. Let's see we have, parsley, basil, garlic, paprika, two 93R burst pistols…"

Marcus showed her the two pistols before closing the cabinet and strolling over to the storage closet and opening it. Vivian following him on auto pilot. The first thing he pulled out was three large wooden blocks on wheels and pushed them out. Vivian looked at them with confusion and took note at the fact they looked very damaged. Marcus Oliver explained why. "Jackson throws knives and shurikens into these blocks for practice."

Vivian still on auto pilot mutely nodded at that. But her eyes widened when he pulled out the next item from the closet, a light machine gun. "This is an M249 SAW."

Her jaw dropped when he put it back and pulled out the last item. "This is an RPG."

He then put it back, rolled the blocks back in, shut the door, and then waved for her to follow him. "Come on."

He then began to go up the stairs leading to the loft. Once they were both there Vivian looked around a bit. There was a small open area before the entrance to Jack's bedroom, the only things there being a couch, a standing lamp, and a poker table. Marcus Oliver gestured to the area, "there's about four guns just in this one area. But it's the bedroom I want to show you."

Vivian hesitated at this point. She was still trying to process and comprehend everything Marcus Oliver had been showing her but, this was Jack's bedroom..this was completely different. She was already in his home and she felt like that was enough of an intrusion. Besides, who knows what could be in there..and she wasn't talking about weapons..Jack was a male after all…she shook her head as that thought made her blush. Although, the more she thought about it going in there could reveal the most about him she could learn along with whatever Mr. MO had to show her.

Steeling her resolve she pushed all of that shock and all of those thoughts about what Mr. MO was showing her she followed him into Jack's bedroom. She was determined to keep her cool and see what he had to show her before demanding he get to the point of showing her all of this. Because yes a lot of this was excessive, and absurd. But to her what she learned at the ZPD and about his childhood pretty much explained all of this. So that was the plan, and once it was done she would then analyze Jack's bedroom fully to see what she could find out about him.

Marcus Oliver had waited for her just inside Jack's bedroom, letting her work through whatever she was working through mentally. Once she finally followed him in he immediately gestured to the dresser. "So what do you imagine that's filled with?"

Vivian at this point knew the game. "Well normally I would say clothes, but I'm assuming more guns."

"Exactly! Except there's also knives, swords, explosives, ammo, tactical gear and vests, passports and IDs of varying identities, credit cards, money, a few gold bars, other miscellaneous tactical equipment, as well as some stuff of which I have no idea to what they are or what they do."

Vivian opened her mouth to say something but Mr. MO held up a paw, "I know you want me to get to the point of me showing you all of this. But there's just one more place I want to show you."

Marcus Oliver then entered Jack's large walk in closet and flipped on the light. Since he didn't bowl straight into what he wanted to show her Vivian was able to look around. The entire left side of the very large closet was all suits of dark color, mostly all black. Dress shoes being at the bottom under each individual set. But to her direct left was several of Jack's military uniforms including two sets of dress uniforms, their caps sitting on a shelf above them. In the middle of the room was a cushioned bench and a small glass cabinet containing watches, lapel pins, and cufflinks.

The right side of the closet contained casual clothes, something she'd never seen him in or heard as described in. She actually had speculated for a bit he didn't wear casual clothes. She noted it looked as all of his shirts were plain, no designs on any of them. She also noted there was several flannel long sleeve shirts of varying colors. Next she looked at his pants, most of them were cargo pants of several colors and there was a several pairs of jeans. One thing she noticed was there was only a few pairs of shorts, she assumed shorts wasn't his thing. She tried to imagine him in casual clothes, and found she actually couldn't.

She would have tried more but it seemed Marcus Oliver was ready to show her what he wanted to. He walked over to the left side of the closet and then dragged all of the clothes excluding the military uniforms down to the very end, showing the white wall that was behind him. Then he went over to uniforms and lifted them slightly, hitting a switch that had once been covered by them. The walls suddenly lifted up and LED lights came on, revealing a massive array of weaponry. He simply gestured to it and said "Jack's personal armory, about two hundred guns ranging from a derringer to a minigun."

Vivian walked up and down the armory once before walking over and flipping the switch closing it. She then fixed the suites moving them back into place before turning towards Marcus Oliver, who had taken a seat on the bench. "Okay, so you showed me all of this. Yes it's shocking, yes it's excessive, yes it's absurd. But, from what I've learned about Jack since I met him from his childhood to him being raised by one of the deadliest criminal assassins on the planet. It's honestly not to surprising. He's paranoid and he wants to be ready for everything. That's why there's guns everywhere. He wants it to be that if some mammals came in he'd be able to have access to several guns no matter where he is in his apartment. As far as this armory goes he obviously likes guns, and I didn't see duplicates of any kind, so maybe it's his hobby and this is his collection. So what was the point of showing me all of this?"

Marcus Oliver nodded a few times before starting to speak. "You see, that's what you see. But you've only known him a day Vivian. I've known him for three years and you weren't there to see him those years ago. Look Vivian I can tell you're interested in him, maybe even considering pursuing him. So I feel you needed to see and know this beforehand, as well as hearing this next bit I'm going to tell you. Something is…off with Jackson. Somethings wrong with him…there's some dark splotch on him and I couldn't begin to tell you what it is. But I can tell you it has to do with all of this and as much as I think he's a fine mammal…. He's mysterious, and he's dangerous..very dangerous…and something tells me he's been kicking some hornets nests with what's in his here. I don't know who the hornet nest belongs to but to me it explains this a lot more. You need to be careful."

Vivian digested what he told her. " _What he's saying makes some sense. But still, him being raised by The Fox and his kithood in general also makes all of this make sense. But..at the same time…what he's told me about when he first met Jack, how he carried himself…then there's the fact of that aura he puts off. I felt it when I met him but it apparently was a fraction to what Marcus Oliver felt when he met him for the first time…and Jack is indeed mysterious…and this dark splotch he mentioned Jack has…somehow it makes sense. If I've learned anything it's the fact that it's pretty indisputable that Jack was indeed raised by The Fox. The rest I just don't know…and I don't even know how I feel about this fact which I don't get. I do know I'll be slightly cautious around him but that's about it. It's just to early to pass judgement on him. I can't and won't judge him simply on his past, it's the present version of him that counts."_

Vivian information now digested said, "I appreciate the warning Mr. MO. I'll be a bit cautious and careful about him. But I think it's just to early for me to pass judgment on him. Thank you for showing me all of this."

Marcus Oliver stood and replied, "that's all I was looking for. Like I said, despite all of that and this he is a fine mammal and he's improved over the years. But yes be careful because there's just to much mystery to let your guard down. So you're quite welcome. Now come on, I can tell you want to look around some more since I basically dragged you from place to place in here, but I felt you needed to see this. So you can pass your eye over the place to see if you can learn something more and then we can get you your apartment key and you can get on your way."

Vivian only nodded at that and followed him back into Jack's bedroom, shutting off the light as she passed it. Now back in Jack's bedroom she took a moment to look around. It was dimly lit, the only source of light coming from three partially opened shutters. Looking up she noted it was the only light source. All of the furniture was dark wood and the sheets and paint on the walls a very dark shade of grey. There were no pictures, posters, or paintings on the walls. The entire bedroom was completely clean, there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere, not one article of clothing on the floor, and the bed was made. Speaking of the bed she tilted her head as it looked as if it was actually never used. There was no creases or anything and there was no indentation of where Jack would be sleeping on either side of the bed.

She simply filed it under the strange category and moved on, there was nothing to lean in here. As she turned she caught eye of a picture frame on Jack's nightstand. Moving over to it she picked it up and inspected it. It was a pair of foxes, the male much bigger than the vixen and the vixen was holding a baby. She let out a little gasp when she noticed the tod and the baby had sea foam green eyes. " _This must be Jack's parents! Which means that's him as a baby!"_

She brought the picture closer so she could look at his parents better, turning so some light would shine on the photo. Jack's mother was a drop dead gorgeous vixen with soft and expressive blue eyes, she also looked younger than Jack's father. Jack's father looked to be older by at least five years his features hardened but eyes soft. His shoulders were quite broad and he was much taller than Jack's mother, nearly twice her height. But looking at Jack's father more she had to admit, he looked…wolfish. " _Why does Jack's dad look like…well like he's part wolf? Hmm something else to maybe ask Demetri about…So mom gave him his looks, and dad gave him his eyes, shoulders, and height."_

Putting the photo back on the nightstand Vivian turned and exited Jack's bedroom and descend the stairs. As she descended her eyes went to Mr. MO who was in the kitchen placing what looked like Jack's mail onto the island. " _His behavior and demeanor shifted after we left..well my apartment, I guess this is Oliver I've been talking to."_

As Vivian took her eyes away from Marcus Oliver and back to surveying the apartment as she descended the stairs she caught sight of something that caught her eyes and she brought it up once she reached the bottom. Pointing to a painting on the wall between the two large windows by the large open area she asked, "is that a real Jackson Pollock painting?"

Marcus Oliver looked to the painting and replied "yep, Jackson bought it in a auction about two years ago. It drew his eye was all he told me when I first saw it."

Vivian nodded at that and swept her eyes around the apartment, when she had first entered she hadn't paid attention to the details, paint scheme and such. To focused on what Mr. MO had said about Jack and then showed her. The paint was a lightish grey and the wood floor an actual light grey, the cabinetry was white and the countertops concrete. The couch she had been sitting on was black, the dark wood coffee table accented by it. As her gaze went back to the kitchen she finally took noticed of the several large black trash bags. "Well Mr. MO it would appear Jack left you some trash to take out."

Marcus Oliver looked over his shoulder at the bags and replied, "yes it would appear so, little bugger didn't tie em off either."

Vivian giggled at that as he turned fully and walked the short distance to the bags. As he went to tie the bag closest to him he bumped it, starting at chain reaction that ended with the bag closest to the door tipping over, some of its contents pouring out. Vivian walked over to help pick them up but blanched when she saw it was 6 bottles of alcohol, scotch, bourbon, and whiskey. Picking the bag up she looked in it and noticed it was full of more bottles of hard alcohol. The other two bags proved to be the same. Vivian dreaded the thought at Jack drank what she assumed was close to thirty bottles of bourbon, scotch, and whiskey.

Marcus Oliver quickly belayed her concerns though before she could express them. "Ah, that explains why the sink reeks of alcohol. Jack dumped all of his bottles."

Vivian quickly picked up the bottles that fell out and redeposited them into the trash bag before going over to the sink and taking a whiff. She quickly recoiled when the super strong scent of alcohol burned her nose. "Yep he dumped it."

Marcus Oliver while tying the three bags said, "good riddance I say. It's about time."

That got Vivian's attention and the dread returned. "Did…did Jack have a problem with…"

He finished the sentence for her. "With alcohol? Sadly he DOES have a problem with it, though it looks like he's stopped thankfully. Yeah these bottles in these bags would have lasted him a couple months maybe…I mean he drank, A LOT. He never got wasted to where he couldn't function and blackout and such. But he still drank everyday. But if this tells me anything it looks like those days just might be behind him. Now I don't know why now, it could be because he joined the military….but I have a sneaking suspicion it's because of you."

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 **Annnd done!**

 **Really Concern? You ended it on a tease? Why yes, yes I did and I apologize for nothing. *disappears into the shadows as the angry mob forms***

 **So quite a lot was achieved in these two chapters, a lot of future plot points set, new characters introduced including a potential love interest, a lot of things explained, and some things left in the open.**

 **One of the characters introduced, who I think everyone will grow to love, was Marcus Oliver. A.k.a Mr. MO. Mr. MO is based off of two characters in ThaRedPanda's possibly abandoned story (though I hope not), Two Against the World. Those characters of course being the black wolf Marcus and the brown wolf Oliver. I enjoyed both of these characters so I mashed them together and then added a NOT so healthy dash of my own madness disguised as my personality into the mix. *laughs maniacally and erratically* erm, sorry that slipped out.**

 **Some final news, all future chapters for all three of my stories will now be in the 6,000-8,000 word range.**

 **Next time on A Father Figure! We get to see Vivian's reaction to what Mr. MO just laid down on her! Vivian and Nick move into their new home! The interview at Paragon Grove! And finally the girls get together for drinks!**

 **Oh and keep an eye out for the next chapter of A True Brother: The Prologue in the coming weeks**

 **Well that's all folks! So until next time this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!**


	15. Chapter 13: Welcome to Afuristan

**Hello hello! TheConcernedF0X here with the next installment of A Father Figure and SURPRISE! Jack is back! This chapter is a Jack chapter going through his first day in Afuristan! Yayyy!**

 **Next chapter is a toss up of wether it will be Jack or Vivian centered….you know what let's do a vote! Tell me who you want to see next!**

 **FL4MING RF4VN: Hahhaha. That is the reason whenever reading something or listening to something I don't risk taking a sip…to many ruined things….and The burning…**

 **A big hello to my new favorites and followers *Waves to Stubat***

 **As always please if you like my story drop a fav, follow, or both!**

 **Oh a small thing…..*flips a desk* WHY WONT YOU ALL REVIEW!? AHHHH! I NEEDS DA FEEDBACK!**

 **Erm now that that's over…Story time!**

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Chapter 13: Welcome to Afuristan

The rest of the flight went quite well. Jack checked, cleaned, and prepped everything, he wasn't bothered by anyone, and he was able to put his walls back up and reconstituted himself. Out of the corner of his eye he kept an eye on Micheal and Evelyn, he was clearly the main topic of discussion but that was to be expected. After all he had laid a ton of information on them, he could tell they really wanted to talk to him directly but he maintained his stance that he didn't want to talk.

Finally the plane landed in Afuristan and everyone stood collecting their things. Jack took back out Sally and slung her on his right shoulder before grabbing the rest of his stuff and standing with the rest. He slotted himself in between a Jaguar and a Gazelle agent seeing Evelyn and Micheal were trying to get to him, he still wasn't ready to talk to them. He saw a look of hurt on Micheal's face when he did that and felt a little guilty but quickly brushed it off. He planned on speaking to him and Evelyn in private when he was settled in, he wanted to make extra sure that he wouldn't end up the wreck like he was on the plane.

The door to the C130 opened cutting his musings off, he couldn't see much but the asphalt of the runway ...and the pure heat rolling off of it. In a straight line everyone began filing out of the plane and once it was his turn he exited the plane, his boots hitting Afuristan turf for the first time ...and was immediately assaulted by the sun. It was so intense that a paw shot to cover his eyes and he flinched and recoiled back right into the Jaguar agent who caught him. "Hey you alright?"

Jack stepped forward again and with a paw still over his eyes replied, "yeah sorry, it's just foxes and the sun don't mix and this one is incredibly intense. Should have had my sunglasses ready and on my snout."

Jack then reached for them and placed them on his snout before opening his eyes. "There that's better, sorry again."

The Jaguar patted his shoulder as he walked next to him and said, "no worries mammal. Sunglasses for nocturnal mammals is a requirement here, the sun is unrelenting. Which makes it problematic when they are required to take them off for work. I wish there was a work around."

Jack lite up a little at that and filed the information away as the yellow eyed Jaguar continued. "First time here in the Middle East?"

Jack nodded to the Jaguar as they began walking together. "Yeah this is my first tour."

The Jaguar gave him an odd look. "Uh what? Agents don't say tours."

Jack inclined his head a bit and replied "it's sort of complicated."

The Jaguar stopped and stopped Jack, turning to him he said. "Well you sort of need to uncomplicate it Agent. I am Lead Senior Agent Grant Whiskerton, I am head of all agents here in Afuristan. Fangsworth is Secondary Lead Agent and I've let him handle whatever happened with you on the plane. But it's time I was filled in, so why did you say tour."

Jack raised his eyebrows and then spent the next ten minutes giving him the fast version of his tale. When he was done Whiskerton said "okay yeah, that is sorta complicated. Damn the general is going to have a field day trying to figure this out. I've never come across a situation like this before, so you and I need to go see him now."

Jack nodded as they started walking again. "I was told to report in to him anyway. So this works out since you're both my boss I guess."

Whiskerton nodded and replied, "I guess so, but I think I'll let Fangsworth be your handler since he's got a handle on you and your circumstances."

Jack nodded once in understanding, not feeling like responding to that. Jack then looked around noticing everyone including Micheal and Evelyn had moved on to check in, he shouldn't have been surprised though he was just pointedly avoiding them. Whiskerton gestured for Jack to follow him and he did, walking off the airstrip and into the base. As they walked Jack looked around noticing absolutely no soldiers around. Whiskerton explained.

"This entire section is for Civilian and CIA personnel. This isn't the main area of the base, this is the rear. We have our own buildings, gate, airstrip, vehicle, mess hall and such all separated from military personnel. There is a middle ground where we can mingle but agents mostly stick to ourselves. Officer quarters are in this same area as well."

Jack nodded twice and replied "that's nifty and it makes sense, y'all handle heavily classified stuff way above our pay grade and so on and so on."

Whiskerton gave him a look and said, "you're an agent too technically Hunter. You could get our pay grade technically, but that's something to discuss with the general along with everything else."

Jack just shrugged at that and casually replied "pay doesn't matter to me. I'm rich so eh whatever."

Whiskerton stutter stepped a little bit and said "uh, define rich."

"I'm a millionaire."

"Sweet Serendipity! Alright then."

They continued walking through the base for about another five minutes, still passing no other personnel. This base was a maze, Whiskerton taking all sorts of turns. Jack would be able to retrace his steps back to the airfield but nothing past that. All he needed was to glance at a map once and he would have it. Finally after one final left turn they came to a large building. "This is Operations Command, everything major and all the brass run through here. This entrance is for CIA personnel only. Let's go."

Whiskerton was about to open the door when it swung open and being held by none other than Brigadier General Christian Wolverton. The general was an older grey wolf in his 50s to 60s with brown eyes and smoking a cigar as he leaned out. In a deep voice he said, "it's about damn time you two got here, and don't even think about saluting me son, your status as an agent supersedes your status as a member of the Periton Sniper Corps. Now come on, we got a lot to discuss about you lieutenant. Oh, and welcome to Camp Breakneck."

At that the general turned back inside and with the paw holding his cigar he beckoned them inside. Camp Breakneck was the lead United Mammalian Marines Base in the Helmand Province, housing 20,000 marines, 1,000 or so contractors, and about a hundred or so CIA personnel. This was the main military installation in the Helmand Province and main installation for Marines in all of Afuristan. It was right next door to an Old Mammalia Base called Camp Bastille, and they regularly worked together on operations and such.

Camp Breakpoint was going to be Jack's home for the next six to eight months. As they entered the Operations Command building following General Wolverton to what Jack assumed would be his office Jack caught eye of a map. He paused for a moment to look over the map memorizing it instantly making special note of the Armorer, Periton Sniper Corps Barracks, Bravo Company barracks, and Gym locations. These are the areas he would more than likely be spending his time at after all.

Jack then picked his pace back up closing the distance between Whiskerton and Wolverton. After a few turns they came to a door with the general's name on it. He opened it and said "come on in, we got some things to discuss about you lieutenant."

Entering the office Jack replied "yes sir" while taking a moment to look around. The door they had just gone through was a secondary door, the primary off to their right leading to a big area full of MAMMALS working diligently. It was a small office, simple wooden desk, two chairs in front of a bookshelf, and the generals accolades and such hanging on the wall. General Wolverton walked over and shut the primary door before going to his desk and taking a seat. Taking a drag from his cigar he took it out and gestured to the two chairs, "have a seat."

Jack quickly sat his gear down and then unslung Sally, sitting in the right chair he leaned it up against it and the general said. "Goods gods I just noticed that monster. Barrett 50 Cal. Good call."

Jack nodded and replied, "thank you sir, she's my favorite."

General Wolverton nodded a couple of times before picking up a file on his desk and tossing it on their side. Looking at it Jack realized that was his dossier and military file, General Wolverton gestured to it and said, "that godsdamned thing has given me one serious headache trying to make heads or tails of it. It says you are a highly ranked member of the CIA, and clearly have worked on some very classified things as your CIA dossier is practically entirely redacted, including simple details like your age. Your security clearance is actually above Lead Senior Agent Whiskertons here, and your dossier has you marked as ACTIVE IN RESERVE which I don't know what the hell that means. Then I read your military file and things make sense."

General Wolverton paused to take a drag from his cigar before continuing. "Your military file shows an exceptional soldier. Passed basic with flying colors, top of class Periton Sniper Corps, top of class OTS, youngest to get top of class OTS at age 19. All in all a damn fine looking soldier, but then I look at this CIA dossier and I can't help figuring this is why. Now I don't get how someone in the position your in within the CIA would bother joining the United Mammalian Marines and go through all these hoops…unless you're here to do some spying on MY marines. I mean no one knew you were CIA, and Whiskerton here doesn't even know what an agent like you are doing here. So I'll need you to explain yourself, and let me make one thing perfectly clear. If you're here to spy on my Marines or anyone else on this base I will burn your ass. So best get to explaining."

Jack nodded a few times before saying, "first of all, sir I am here in no capacity for the CIA I assure you. I have no orders pertaining to them at all. I am here as a United Mammalian Marine Officer in the Periton Sniper Corps, I am here to serve my country. As to my CIA dossier and such I gave Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton the fast run down of it, but I take it you'll want the full version."

General Wolverton nodded twice and replied, yeah that'd be nice."

Jack then spend the next half hour fully filling in General Wolverton about his CIA dossier and when he was finished Wolverton reached into his desk and pulled out a decanter of scotch and a glass. As he poured himself a drink he said, "well godsdamn. I think my headache just got a hell of a lot worse. I have been in the military for 38 years and I have never come across a situation like this."

Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton nodded and said "yes I'm in the same boat basically. Your circumstances are quite odd and honestly I don't know how I feel about them."

General Wolverton put out his cigar, took a sip of scotch and said, "I agree, I don't know how I feel about this besides the fact that I don't like it. But something tells me lieutenant that you're not a real big fan of this either."

Jack shook his head and replied, "no, no I don't. I just wanted to have a change of pace, serve my country. Do my part, and this crap has thrown a wrench into all of it, complicating the crap out of everything. I also was very much hoping my past would you know, stay in my past. I really didn't want my vigilantism ever coming up. There's also the fact that I became an agent of the CIA without my knowledge so an agent could ride what I did up to the chair he's in now."

Wolverton and Whiskerton nodded at that and General Wolverton said, "yes I'd be right pissed off. Speaking of your vigilantism, personally I don't give a damn about it. You were helping your community and putting scumbags in the ground permanently."

Whiskerton gave his opinion. "Personally I'm on the fence on the matter. You killed mammals by taking the law into your own paw, which is wrong. But, most were all terrible mammals, criminals that flew under the radar or had already been convicted before. Which means they can no longer go back to doing what they were doing. So that's good. But then there's some that were small cogs that you still killed, which is bad. The only thing I'm sure on is that I don't like Elkerton riding you to the director chair, sadly what he did wasn't exactly illegal or against the rules even though he did lie about who you were. Anything he could have gotten in trouble for he saved it by waiting until he was in the big chair to make you an agent. Not to mention most mammals who could do something wouldn't care, he technically accomplished a lot for the agency through your work by your words. You said you killed high ranking members, leaders, and members of Cartels, the Triads, Yakuza, and Bratva. You also said you killed many drug and nip dealers, suppliers, etcetera. Saying you killed them under his order and counting them as agency kills makes the agency look very good, if they acted on the truth that would make the agency lose the stats. It's pretty smart."

Jack hadn't thought of what Whiskerton said, it made sense. ZIA Director Elkerton really had played his cards right. Anyone above him that figured out the "truth" that Jack wasn't really an agent killing on his orders wouldn't do anything about it because it would make the agency look bad. Jack couldn't do anything at all, or he would be ousted as The Reaper or whatever other name he was called, either way one of the deadliest criminal assassins in the world…well former at least. That would gain some heat on Elkerton, but he'd still be bringing down one of the most wanted mammals on the planet.

At that moment a realization hit Jack. If he could somehow leverage Elkerton or some other higher up to change the narrative to him being an agent under the guise of a criminal assassin, it could save him. If the story was that he was an assassin for the CIA under the guise of a criminal assassin to also spy on the criminal organization he "worked" for, it would wipe his wanted status. He could tell mammals he was a former dark agent for the CIA assassinating high value targets while gaining intel on criminal organizations. That sounded a lot better than he was a brutal vigilante that an agent rode his kills to the top and then made him an agent as a save for the both of them. It was definitely a lot better than the real truth, that he was an ACTUAL criminal assassin that Elkerton discovered and rode to his chair ...either way it didn't paint Elkerton in a very good light.

Perhaps Jack could use that fact against Elkerton. But right now Elkerton held most of the cards in his hooves, it would be to much of a risk to move on this now. Jack would have to sit on this, gather more information and at least meet Elkerton. From there he could start to formulate a plan on how to deal with all of this, he did NOT like being someone's pawn or toy.

Brigadier General Wolverton downed the rest of his glass of scotch, lit up a new cigar and said, "okay, now let's get down to business. Circumstances aside you are an agent of the CIA officially and that would change how our relationship would work even though you are an officer under my command. So, I want you to decide how this is going to work because seriously between me and Whiskerton here we can't figure this out. Do you want to be a regular soldier or do you want to be an agent? Or do you want something in between? You need to think about this and decide."

It only took Jack a minute to decide. "Look until today I didn't even know I was a CIA agent. I joined the military, not the CIA. But at the same time I can see the benefits of being an agent in the field, being able to make decisions outside of orders given. So, I will be an officer in the Periton Sniper Corps working on orders as ordered unless I deem it necessary to deviate from those orders. In those instances I will fall under Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton's command as I handle those situations. That way you both will share command over me and main command will vary within those situations. But overall main command will go to you General Wolverton."

Wolverton and Whiskerton nodded and General Wolverton after taking a drag from his cigar said, "honestly that's the option I figured you would take, it's makes the most sense given everything. It makes you to be a very flexible operative, as I was climbing the ranks I hated being given bad orders or orders that just didn't make sense. That's why I worked my way up to Brigadier General and I'm still trying to climb the damn ladder because I'm still sometimes getting handing shit orders that I have to hand out. You will have the unique opportunity to deny those orders and make your own that you deem to be the best route. I just hope when those situations arrive you make the right calls. So now that you've decided your course of action Whiskerton has some items to bestow upon you."

Jack shifted his gaze to Whiskerton as he reached into his bag and pulled a file out. Handing it to Jack he said "that's your strike passage list. Every agent in the field gets strike packages they can call in for support. Air strikes, artillery barrages, missile strikes, apache support, spec ops operators, and tank support. Now these should only be used in dire situations, and the air strikes and missile strikes in extremely dire situations. This contains the authorization codes for these actions and they can only be used once so use them wisely, and I don't expect you to ever use the air or missile strike. You will also need to report to the Armorer for items and gear a CIA agent here receives, high-spec laptop, satellite phone, specialized armor, etcetera."

Jack took the file and opened it, flipping through the pages he memorized all of it and handed it back to Whiskerton. When he saw the odd look Whiskerton gave he simply said "memorized it."

Whiskerton nodded and then said, "General you can handle this next part."

Jack turned his gaze back to General Wolverton and the general said, "now here's the thing on this next part, I wouldn't normally consider offering these options to soldiers under my command. Even with these incredibly unique circumstances honestly because you are mostly going to be an Officer in the PSC. The only reason I am bringing these options forward is because of your species, because you're a fox. Now I don't mean that in a speciest way, I have three adoptive sons that are foxes. My eldest is the Head Accountant at the Zootopia branch of Sparrowtail Industries, I'm very proud of him. The middle child also works at Sparrowtail as a top Biochemist who I'm also very proud of, and the youngest is only 7. So.."

Jack cut off General Wolverton's speech to say "Wait Vincent and Jimmy are your sons?"

General Wolverton put his cigar out and in a surprised tone replied "you know my boys?"

Jack nodded and said, "Yeah I'm a majority stockholder at Sparrowtail Industries so I've needed to talk to Vincent a few times. Jimmy I've past and only know by his reputation. Didn't know they were adopted by wolves."

General Wolverton nodded and replied "yes well me and my wife couldn't have pups together so we adopted. They also have a wolf sister and brother. But we've gone off topic. I mentioned my son because I hold the firm belief that foxes are the most discriminated species in the world and it's true. Now I hold a very strong no speciesism policy for everyone under my command, but it still happens. You are the first fox under my command, and since foxes are so mistreated I can pretty much guarantee that you would be discriminated against by your fellow soldiers at almost every turn. So that's why I'm going to give you these options, you can take em or leave em."

Jack nodded along to what General Wolverton said, understanding the point of view he was giving. Jack and given this a lot of thought, he knew he would be discriminated against and was content to deal with it. Content to grin and bear it on base and work to change mammals minds about foxes. But, he was quite interested in hearing these options. If these options kept him from having to deal with the discrimination to hell with grinning and bearing it.

General Wolverton leaned forward and said, "so here's the options, you can either stay in the PSC barracks go through all the motions with that, go out with your assigned company, and everything else. Or you can go out in the context of a CIA agent, that means you would stay in the CIA agent quarters, use the CIAs private gate, and take out your own Humvee. You would only take orders from me directly and deal basically just with me and Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton. The only other mammals you'd have to see would be the armorers, doctors, Other CIA personnel, oh and any mammals you may pass. Considering that there's only roughly a hundred agents that's a lot less mammals that could discriminate against you."

Jack didn't even have to think about it. "I'll take the latter option."

Whiskerton and Wolverton chuckled at the speed of Jack's answer, Whiskerton saying "I figured you would pick that option so I went ahead and set up a room for you. It comes with a bed, a table, and your own bathroom. I will show it to you later."

Jack nodded and General Wolverton said, "now we just need to go over all of the 'fun' logistics of all of this, since this is such a unique circumstance and such."

Wolverton and Whiskerton spent the next hour going over all the logistics and details pertaining to Jack covering everything even to the most minute details. Wolverton also gave Jack his first orders, all of Bravo company including Bravo Platoon was held up back at home. Apparently a very nasty storm hit Periton right after his flight left grounding all other military flights and it was supposed to last for three days. So Jack was going to go out on his own for those three days as a lone operative, he would set up and move where he wanted eliminating threats as he saw them. He would also help any units in the area if they needed it regardless of who it was, including units that weren't United Mammalian troops. Brigadier General Wolverton liked to help allies here in Afuristan if and when they needed it and Jack shared the same sentiment.

When Bravo Company did get to Afuristan though Jack would resume his normal orders providing overwatch for them and more specifically Bravo Platoon as they went places. The only difference now was that Jack wouldn't go out with them but before them and set up shop in the area they would be in. He would report in to the Platoon Leader once they arrived in the area and then watch for threats and shot them if they arrived. When Bravo Platoon was not going out Jack would go out on his own as he was going to be doing for the next three days.

One thing that Jack decided is that he would not go by his name while out there. Call Jack paranoid if you will but Jack couldn't care less, having the option to have his identity a mystery again was too tempting of an offer. For most of his life practically no one knew his name or what he really looked like, it was what he was used to, it's what he knows. He didn't care that it was allies he was concealing his identity to, he didn't trust anyone. So Jack was going back to the identity of NightOwl.

Brigadier General Wolverton looked over all the forms and everything that they had been going over. "I think that was everything. You have your orders tomorrow at 0800 report to the CIA gate, check out your Humvee, and head to Sangin. Set up in the west region eliminate threats as you see them, and assist any troops in the area if they call for aid. Stay in regular contact check in every half hour, you miss three windows we send in a team. Sangin is a hot zone so you should see action."

Jack nodded once and replied "understood."

Brigadier General Wolverton then leaned forward and said, "Now let me go over who you're going to be facing. I know you've seen the news about them and got a small brief but let me lay it all out. What we are doing is fighting a radical terrorist organization called Islamic Extremist Coalition or IEC. The IEC is a large terrorist organization tied to the religion of the Middle East. That religion is called Christjelam, it's a monotheistic religion so only one god named Jehovyehall. This religion is steeped in harsh traditions, customs, and rules and it hates our religion. Any religion that isn't there's they believe it to be inferior and wish it to be eradicated completely until only theirs remains, which is funny because our religion was established first."

Wolverton paused to light up a cigar before continuing, "anyways, the IEC formed in the 80s during the invasion by Russia. They originally rose up to fight them but once Russia pulled out they stayed together and shifted their focus to terrorism, to eradicating other religions. They started with culling other religions here in the Middle East, that's what put them on our radar but we didn't do anything. But after the attempted attack on the Twin Towers in Zoo York and the bombing of Times Square that killed 200. Well we went to war and now we're here still fighting. The IEC is composed of mostly prey herding mammals like camels, goat, sheep, Ibex, Gazelle, Yak and so on and so on. But there's a healthy mix predators and non herding preys. IEC Insurgents have no body armor and wield small arms, Ak47s, Dragnovs, RPGs, RPD and PKPs, grenade pouches, and mortars. They have no artillery and no armor, the only vehicles they have is technicals. You should know the rest."

Jack nodded and said "yes sir I know the rest."

Wolverton nodded and replied "good, any other details such as strongholds and movements you will be filled in on during briefs. The first of which you will attend tonight with the rest of the new CIA personnel. Now I do believe that was everything for now so I'll go ahead and let you go, and again don't salute me please, I hate that crap. Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton will show you to your quarters and then after that I expect you to check in with the Armorer for your uniforms and such then make sure you make it to that brief. Dismissed."

Jack said, "yes sir." Before standing and picking up his things before following Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton out of the Operations Command building. Once they were outside Whiskerton lead Jack to the CIA sleeping quarters, passing a few agents as they went by. The agents Jack didn't recognize at all and they gave him strange looks as he passed, he wasn't dressed as an agent or a soldier, and he was a fox. But Jack brushed it off, he would hardly see them anyways.

Jack and Lead Senior Agent Whiskerton finally arrived at the CIA living quarters. "This building is where all of the agents on base rest their heads. Attached is our mess hall and gym, and our briefing area is just over there. The building is single story, pre-fabricated, and climate controlled. The building and every can comfortably house up to 2,000 personnel. The building is accessed by keycard and speaking of which."

Whiskerton pulled out a keycard and handed to Jack. "This one's yours, please try not to lose it. It's a bitch to make new ones."

Jack nodded once and taking the keycard said "Understood Whiskerton."

Whiskerton grimaced at that a bit a waved a paw. "Unless we are in a business setting please just call me Grant. Please Jack."

Jack nodded a couple times and said "sure Grant, no problem. Now let's see where I'll be laying my head for the next six to eight months shall we?"

Grant scrunched his eyebrows and after a moment of thought said "shit."

Jack tilted his head in confusion. "Shit? Shit what?"

Grant shook his head and said, "We forgot to go over something. Your stay. An agent only stays here on four month rotations as opposed to six to eight months as a soldier. We are here for four months, go home for four, and then come back for another four. I'll let you decide now and I'll tell Wolverton later. He won't put up too much of a fuss if you decide four months, he's actually been pushing to shorten deployment times for a whole bunch of reasons. If you can't decide now you can give me an answer later."

Jack's first instinct was to say he would stay for the six to eight months. He didn't have anything to rush home for after all besides starting a bunch of therapy and all that jazz. Here on the other hand he could put his skills to work and do the only thing he knew how to do. It would also give him the time to fully kick his drinking and sort out a lot of things in his head, and he meant a lot. So yes his first instinct was to stay…

But then Jack's eyes were drawn to his right wrist where Little Nicholas' neckerchief was tied securely around it. Since Nick had given the neckerchief to him and Jack had tied it around his wrist it hadn't left that spot. When Micheal had seen it he hadn't questioned it at all which Jack was grateful for. But now that Jack was thinking about the neckerchief his mind drifted to the little one. Nick would want him to come home sooner, and Jack realized that he wanted to be like a father figure to Nick. He couldn't do that while he was on the other side of the world.

Then Jack's thoughts drifted to Vivian. He only knew her for a single day yet he couldn't stop thinking about her. He had interacted with her more in that short time than he had with anyone in a year, and certainly enjoyed it more than any other interaction in twice that. There was something about her that drew him to her. When he had to leave her and Nick that night even though he had only known them that short time he hadn't wanted to really go. He wanted to stay until she made him leave and find some way to show up the next day just so he could keep talking to her and spending time with little Nicholas. Then there was the fact that when he came out of his episode he saw Vivian's face first instead of Micheal's when he was kissing him, he needed to to figure that part out. But the bottom line was that he wanted to see them both again.

 _"Why am I still thinking about this? I should take the four months!...but wait, what about the mammals I'm assigned to watch over? I'm their overwatch, they share the same deployment time as me. What'll happen if I decide to go home two to four months early? If they stay without overwatch it would be selfish of me to go."_

Jack thoughts now sorted looked at Grant and said, "while I would love to go home at four month mark…what about Bravo Platoon of Bravo Company? I'm their overwatch, I couldn't just leave them here to their own devices."

Grant gave him a look of approval at that statement and replied "well they would get two weeks at home while we would get another PSC to replace you."

That sealed the deal for Jack. "In that case, yeah, I'll do four month deployments."

Grant nodded a few times and replied "okay I'll let the General know later, right now come on let me show you to your room. Then you need to go to the Armorer and get your stuff."

Jack simply inclined his head before following Grant up the few metal steps. Grant swiped his keycard and the door unlocked, Grant holding it open for Jack to walk through. Once Jack entered the building he looked around, there wasn't much to see. In front of him was a narrowish hallway with white walls and a light purple thin carpet on the floor. To the left and right down the hallway there were numbered wooden doors and in the middle of the hallway was an open area with a padded chairs of varying sizes and a few tables.

"So this is our building, there are four entrances. North, South, East, and West, we just came in the South entrance. Numbered doors are locked with keys, one agent per room. In this building are several other services like our new Psychologist, Evelyn Spotters who you already met on the plane. This building also contains mine and Fangsworth's office, Fangsworth's is in the right corridor third door on the left. My office is in the left corridor third door on the right and Spotters office is past the open area sixth door on the right. Oh there's also a small doctor's office straight across from hers, it handles the very small things like check ups and if you get sick or something."

Jack filed the information he had been given away. After he got his gear settled and checked in with the Armorer he would head to Micheal and Evelyn's offices to see if they were there, and talk to them further. If they weren't he'd catch them later at some point hopefully before the debrief. If he didn't find them then there was always sometime tomorrow after he got back to base. But, something told him they'd find him if he couldn't find them before the day was up.

Grant kept walking for a bit Jack follows until he paused just before the open area. To their left was room 17 and to their right room 18. Grant pointed to room 17 and said "that's you there. (he hands Jack a key) here's your key, same concept as the key card please don't lose it. Go ahead and go in and get settled, I have to go settle in myself. Remember once you get your gear stowed you MUST go see the Armorer."

Jack took the key and said "understood Grant, I'll get it done. Thank you."

Grant nodded and said "see you at the briefing." Then he walked off towards his own room and office.

Jack placed his modified tool chest down and unlocked the door swinging it open. Looking inside it was pretty simple, directly in front set against the back wall was a simple bead with no head or footboard and big enough to fit two wolves. Just inside the door set to the right was a small wooden circular table and a simple padded chair and set on the left wall was three shelves for storing his gear. On the back right wall there was a door that Jack assumed led to his bathroom.

Jack quickly stowed all of his gear, hanging Sally and his M14 EBR above his bed. He put his modified tool chest on the table and opened it up expanding the top portion revealing his three pistols. Jack unholstered his FN FNX 45 and took his tan 1911 out of the chest, putting the FNX there in its place. Jack then unscrewed the 1911's suppressor and holstered the tan 1911, quickly switching out the magazines and suppressors. Once that was done, Jack fished out an ankle holster and put the PX4 Storm in it and put its magazines in a holster on his left ankle, one on each side of a boot knife.

Now satisfied Jack went over to the closed door and opened it and sure enough it was the bathroom. A small sink right in front of him, the toilet on the right, a decent sized shower on the left, and just in front of it set in the wall a smallish closet. Jack nodded his head in approval before shutting the door and using the facilities. Exiting the bathroom Jack let out a satisfied sigh before exiting his room and making his way to the Armorer.

Half an hour later Jack returned to his room with the gear and uniforms he needed from the Armorer. He also decided to get a few extra things that weren't required, a cute golden eyed female Eurasian lynx Armorer bringing those extra things in behind him. Those extra things being a case of grenades, three claymores, three boxes of 50. Cal ammunition, a Kevlar hydration backpack, and two boxes of 7.62x5.1 NATO for his M14 EBR. Jack was carrying in a little cart he was given: six uniforms, two pairs of combat boots, a tactical belt, tactical pouches and ammo pouches, the specialized CIA armor, a canteen, comms, a helmet that would never get used, his military grade laptop, and finally his satellite phone.

Jack opened his door and wheeled the cart inside stopping it by his table. The cute female lynx walked in behind him and Jack said "You can put the ammo and case of grenades on the shelves with the rest, the claymores can go next to those blocks of C4. Oh and you can put that hydration pack on the bed thank you."

Jack busied himself with emptying the cart so the lynx could take it back with her. Placing most of the gear on the table and putting his uniforms in the closet. He was aware of the female lynx's eyes following him as he went, her eyes mostly focused on his rear. There was also the smell of her "interest" in the air, no doubt she was imagining a scenario where Jack closed his door and locked it. It was just starting to be that time of the year, and it was even worse in spring. Jack as much as he was surprisingly tempted, wouldn't entertain her fantasies…this time. The lynx was very attractive and four months was quite a while, if this feeling didn't dissipate he might go ahead and go for it. There was also two other options he could entertain as well, though he could tell Micheal was looking for an actual relationship. So indeed that left this Eurasian lynx and Evelyn.

Everything now put away Jack turned to the cute lynx who had her ankles crossed and her paws clasped in front of her. Jack stepped towards her and said, "thanks for helping me get all of this to my room..(Jack reads her rank and name tag). Corporal Pointedear."

Pointedear gave a little giggle and replied in her smooth sexy voice replied, "you're very welcome sir, and please, my name is Lyla."

Jack gave her a smirk and said "okay then, Lyla. If I'm calling you by your first name then there's no 'sir'. My name is Jack."

Lyla gave him a cute smile and replied, "alright then Jack. I must admit I'd never thought I'd see a fox here in the military…or in the CIA for that matter. I definitely didn't expect to see a mammal period in both at the same time. You must have some really weird circumstances Jack."

Jack chuckled and said, "Yes, yes I do. Circumstances and issues waayyy above your paygrade Corporal."

Lyla let out another cute giggle and replied jokingly "sir yes sir!" Then her sensing Jack wasn't going to make an advance on her she grabbed the cart and said, "Well, I should be getting back now or my LT will start to wonder. It was very nice to meet you Jack, I hope we'll run into each other sometime."

Jack nodded as Lyla went to the door and Jack said, "The pleasure was all mine Lyla. I'm sure I'll see you around."

Lyla paused at the door to give him a sultry look and replied "I hope so. Goodbye Jack."

Then before Jack could say anything Lyla was out the door and out of sight. Jack simply shrugged and went to properly put away the he had taken out of the cart. Fifteen minutes later Jack was just finishing up when he heard a knock on his open door. Standing and turning he saw it was Evelyn standing in his doorway, she gave him a small and gentle smile and said "mind if I come in?"

Jack just nodded and sat on the foot of his bed. Evelyn walked in and shut the door behind her, Jack half expecting she would lock it behind her. She didn't but instead cupped her elbows in her paws and took a few steps forward. "I need to talk to you about something private to you, which is why I closed the door. It's, more of a proposition really."

Jack tilted his head a little in curiosity as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Oh? What's this proposition then Evelyn?"

Evelyn steeled herself for what was about to undoubtedly come with her next words. "I want to be your therapist Jack. I know you need one, badly."

Jack's reaction was instant, his tail and body stiffened and he sat up straight instantly going on the defensive. "I don't know what you're talking about. Why would I need a therapist, I'm fine."

Evelyn almost wanted to roll her eyes. "No you are not Jack, you may be able to fool everyone else but I'm not fooled so easily. Your walls and defenses are very good, even a normal psychologist wouldn't see through them and definitely not a regular mammal. I just barely saw through them initially but after your PTSD episode and everything after you laid yourself basically bare to me. Advanced psychological trauma and alcoholism."

Jack stood and was going to say something but Evelyn was on a roll. "But to be more specific, severe childhood trauma stemming from your parents being murdered in front of you, the attempted murder of you, years of physical and psychological torture at the orphanage, witnessing your friend die, becoming a vigilante and killing HUNDREDS of mammals of which during so you were badly injured many many times. That equals depression, you forcibly repressing your emotions and bottling them up, difficulty processing emotions, severe PTSD, difficulty sleeping, smoking, and finally alcoholism. All of this of course being made worse by your condition of Hyperthymesia which allows you to literally remember everything with 100% clarity. You are a wreck Jackson Tiberius Hunter held together by duct tape as much as you try and pass of the illusion you are whole. You NEED help and I am offering it."

The effect on Jack was instant. His ears pinned to the top of his head, his tail shifted in between his legs, he started to hyperventilate, his body hunched over a bit, and finally he started to backpedal away from Evelyn. Jack was fully panicking, Evelyn just blew his defenses up in an instant laying him bare. Being faced with a mammal that could see through his walls without effort was jarring and Jack was not handling it well.

Evelyn for her part expected this reaction from Jack. She knew a mammal like him would fall into panic when faced with a mammal who could see through his façade. Luckily she had come up with and prepared a way she figured would snap him out of his panicked state before he slipped into what happened on the plane. Going to the small of her back Evelyn pulled her P226 pistol from its holster and pointed it at Jack.

Jack's instincts kicked in immediately. His panicked state dissipated instantly and he rushed forward reaching Evelyn in a split second. He quickly disarmed her wrenching her gun away and sending it flying onto the bed. Jack then blocked Evelyn's left hook and grabbed her throat with his right paw and pushed her back until she hit the wall. Jack's grip wasn't choking, just a light pressure, but the tips of his claws were dangerously close to puncturing her throat, all it would take was a little squeeze.

Jack's muzzle was just inches from Evelyn's his hot breath hitting her face. This with Jack's paw on her throat lightly squeezing, Evelyn had to admit it was kind of a turn on. If she wasn't currently trying to get him to accept her help by becoming his therapist she would have kissed him. Instead she gave him a triumphant smirk, and then she noticed something strange about Jack's eyes. Jack's pupils were slightly dilated like he just took some drugs, which shouldn't happen.

Evelyn filed the information away to ask the doctor about later and with the smirk still on her face said, "well that worked well. So are you going to accept my help? I know you're going to try and find a therapist when you get back home, it's written all over your face. I'm telling you know they won't be able to help you out like I will, and when I rotate back we can continue our sessions there. So, what's it going to be?"

Jack blinked twice and his pupils returned to normal, he seemed almost confused at what he was doing. Jack released Evelyn's throat and took an abrupt step back letting out an awkward cough as he did. Clearing his throat Jack replied, "ahem…uh, sorry about that…but..ah..that was you snapping me out of my panicked state, banking on my survival instincts to kick in. Um…yes I was planning on getting a therapist when I got back home…Erm…y. , sure, you can be my therapist I suppose…I do really need help.."

As Jack was feeling awkward and oddly chastised in this moment like he got caught with his paw in a cookie jar, Evelyn was feeling even more triumphant. Giving him a big smile she skipped to his door and opened it, stepping out into the hallway she turned back to him and said, "splendid! Our first session is 1400 hours tomorrow! DON'T BE LATE. I gotta go finish setting up, bye-bye now!"

Once she was finished Evelyn was gone from view and Jack was left standing there completely disarmed and confused. After about thirty seconds though Evelyn popped her head back into Jack's room and said, "hehe forgot my gun."

Jack replied "oh" and turned grabbing it off the bed. Walking over to her he handed it back to her and she gave him a cheeky smile before holstering it and giving him a chipper "thanks." She then turned and Jack watched her go halfway down the hall before she pivoted on her heel to face him again. "I almost forgot, the doc needs to see you. Something went wrong with your blood work. Come on."

Jack tilted his head in confusion at that and let out a slow. "Okay." Jack exited his room fully and shut and locked his door. Then he caught up quickly to Evelyn that had started walking forward again. Jack was curious as to what could have possibly gone wrong with his blood work, he had it taken months ago…maybe they lost it? Jack followed Evelyn to the doctor's office in the building and once they got their Evelyn gave a little knock before opening it.

Inside was the typical looking doctor's office and sitting in the doctor's chair was a male white tiger. "Dr. Kashesh this is Jackson Hunter."

Dr. Kashesh gave Jack a toothy smile and said "Ah Lt. Hunter come in come in. Thank you Dr. Spotters."

Evelyn nodded to Dr. Kashesh and waved to Jack before turning and going into her own office straight across the hall, closing the door once she was inside. Jack entered the doctor's office and shut the door behind him as he did so. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Kashesh, I was told there was a problem with my blood work?"

Doctor Kashesh nodded a few times and said "yes take a seat take a seat. Indeed there's a problem with your blood work, it somehow got contaminated."

Jack as he took a seat on the patients chair replied, "contaminated? Contaminated how?"

Turned his chair towards him Dr. Kashesh said. "It would appear your blood got contaminated somehow by another sample of blood, or someone handling it cutting themselves. Your blood work basically shows as half wolf blood. But not just any wolf subspecies called Ethiopian Wolf which I've never seen before. Looking it up they look like basically a fox wolf. Anyways your blood work was contaminated healthily by the Ethiopian wolf blood causing your blood to read as 50% wolf blood. So I need to take a new sample. Luckily your blood type both ways reads 0+ so if you manage to get shot before I get the results back you can get any type of blood."

Jack nodded and rolled up his right sleeve, saying nothing. He had to much to think about, this was a strange circumstance his blood getting contaminated by wolf blood ...and these kind of circumstances were starting to pile up. Jack was pulled from his thoughts when Dr. Kashesh called out "done!" Jack blinked and rolled his sleeve back down. "Thanks doc."

Dr. Kashesh gave him another toothy smile and replied, "you're quite welcome Lt. Hunter. It will take a few days to get your blood work properly sorted so check in in three days. When you do, I will also do a check up since you're technically an agent and didn't receive a clean bill of health by the agency. That'll be all for now."

Jack thanked Dr. Kashesh and shook his paw before exiting the office. He decided to head back to his room and meditate for a bit, he still had some time before he had to get to the briefing.

* * *

 **Done! So one new character arose in this chapter that was no originally planned Ms. Lyla Pointedear. But now that I've created her she will be showing up quite a bit. In what form? I ain't talking, and there's nothing you can do to make me!**

 **So a major plot point regarding Jack has finally come to the light after giving hints about it for the entirety of the story so far! Well at least I revealed it to you the readers, Jack still hasn't figured it out. Have no idea what I'm talking about? Well then you'll have to wait for Jack to find out!**

 **Tanks yous to BrutusDeagon for cleaning the chapter up of mistakes and please if you haven't checked out his stories yet do so!**

 **Also check out my newly renamed friend Natnat64's stories as well!**

 **Next time on A Father Figure! Undecided and up to you! Jack or Vivian! You decide!**

 **Well that's all I got so this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!**


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